The White Cat
by JDH1080
Summary: With Adrien being unable to be presented the Black Cat Miraculous a different pair of heroes had to be chosen. Despite this Adrien is unable to avoid destiny from putting him on the frontlines, nor can he avoid crossing paths with the one meant to be his other half. Marichat
1. Enter the White Cat

Whew, I have been waiting awhile to release this one. I've had this idea since reading a fanfic on Archives of our Own titled Casting Shadows. This will be somewhat similar but very different. Anyways for anyone who's read my ML one-shots I hope you enjoy my first ML multi-chapter fic, and for fans of LatS this is my next project until the sequel. Hope you all enjoy this.

Also I feel the need to preface this, in this story Alya and Nino are the ones with the Miraculous so I changed their superhero names to help identify them better.

* * *

The White Cat

Part One: Enter the White Cat

Black Cat and Coccinelle wore matching frowns as they continued to battle their latest adversary. Today's akuma was easily the toughest one Le Papillon had sent after them. Thankfully, by some stroke of luck, most likely due to the pair of earrings Coccinelle was wearing, they had managed to separate him from his hostage.

Black Cat kept his staff high to keep the akuma at bay, but the villain was having none of that. A blur of white he was, yellow eyes narrowed as he continued to press his advantage. Black Cat was hesitant to admit that in a one on one fight the akuma was every bit his superior.

Garbed in a white skin tight suit that appeared to be made of some sort of leather-like material, with white cat ears upon his head, and a tail, Chat Blanc was a sight to behold. His untamed blonde hair was very similar to the bedhead Black Cat had once seen on his best friend, Adrien Agreste.

'That's because it is Adrien.' Black Cat thought mournfully as Chat Blanc parried his latest blow before smacking him in the chest with the pommel of his sword.

Thankfully Coccinelle was able to keep the white cat on his toes. Before Chat Blanc could continue his assault she had her yoyo wrapped around his wrist and was yanking him towards her. The akumatized victim allowed himself to be pulled towards the spotted heroine before smacking her with the hilt of his rapier. The momentarily loss in focus was more than enough for Chat Blanc to slip out of her grasp and quickly put distance between himself and the two heroes.

"I grow tired of this little cat fight, Coccinelle, Black Cat give me your miraculous, and we can put an end to this pointless struggle!" Chat Blanc stated as he assumed a stance, more than aware of the fact that the duo of superheroes were not going to adhere to his demands.

Hazel eyes narrow in defiance. "As if!" Coccinelle exclaimed as she reassumed a battle-ready stance. Swing his baton Black Cat charged forward, a silent scream tearing from his throat.

Chat Blanc sighed, disappointment marring his expression. "So be it." He said before sidestepping the male super hero. ramming the hilt of his rapier into the young man's back was more than enough to knock him down. Flicking his wrist he batted Coccinelle's yoyo away before planting a foot on Black Cat's shoulder. With a savage grin he placed the point of his sword against the dark skinned hero's throat. "Don't move or else I'll be forced to make my point clear." The blonde akuma warned in a low voice as Papillon's joyous cry echoed in the back of his mind.

This was it, this was the closest Le Papillon had ever come to acquiring the Miraculous he so desperately coveted. Once Black Cat was stripped of his claws, it would only be a matter of minutes before Chat Blanc had subdued Coccinelle, and claimed her earrings. {DO IT, TAKE HIS MIRACULOUS} The command boomed in his ears.

Just as Chat Blanc was about to follow his master's orders something peculiar happened. He felt something pushing against his mind, telling him to ignore Papillon's loud voice. That distraction was all it took for Black Cat to push the feline themed villain off of him.

The fighting continued on for what felt like an eternity. Chat Blanc was unable to get the two in a compromising enough position to snatch their miraculous, and they were incapable of subduing the very powerful akuma. Becoming impatient at the back and forth going nowhere Black Cat hopped away from him while raising his right hand. "Cataclysm!" He shouted before a swirl dark energy appeared around his hand. Bringing it to the nearby wall he willed the power to deteriorate the structure of the building enough to cause the ceiling to start to crumble.

Large pieces of debris started to fall in places where Chat Blanc had previous stood, but he was more than nimble enough to avoid them. In his haste to end the fight Black Cat had overlooked the akuma's hostage who had yet to clear the area.

Coccinelle paused as she saw the danger. A terrofied shriek escaping her throat as her eyes caught sight of the large slab about to crush her best friend. "Marinette!" She started running for the dark haired girl who remained too shell shock to avoid the crumbling ceiling.

At the spandex clad heroine's shriek Chat Blanc turned his attention to the person in question. His heart clenched tightly upon seeing her current state. Marinette's bluebell eyes were wide with terror as she remained rooted in place. Time seemed to slow down as his yellow eyes observed her. Her normally wrinkle-free clothes were slightly disheveled as was her hair. The part of him that was Adrien remembered the sweet shy girl fondly. She always seemed so nervous around him, unable to form coherent words. Despite her shyness she always went out of her way to acknowledge and be kind to him and those around her. And she was seconds away from dying.

Save her! Chat Blanc had no idea where the desire sprung from, but he couldn't ignore it. Launching into a desperate sprint he closed the gap far quicker than Coccinelle and shoved the half Asian half French girl out of harm's way. Despite his superior speed Chat Blanc was not fast enough to avoid the falling debris. From his spot on the ground Chat Blanc glanced up only to meet Marinette's stunned expression. The two youths stared at each other for about ten seconds.

Bluebell eyes blinked, the spell broken Marinette quickly rose to her feet and ran away from the scene. Before Chat Blanc could even consider going after her, not that he currently could, he felt someone slipping the ring off his finger. "No!" He cried, echoing Papillon's cry of defeat as Black Cat crushed the ring in his palm.

After a few tense seconds a black butterfly appeared and Coccinelle purified it. "Goodbye little butterfly." The spotted hero softly said as she released the now white insect from her yoyo. With a cry of "Miraculous Ladybug" all the damage caused by Papillon's latest akuma was reversed. In place of Chat Blanc now sat teen celebrity Adrien Agreste with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Nice work!" The duo exclaimed before high fiving. Suddenly a beep echoed from Black Cat's ring and the two stiffened.

"I'd best get going." Black Cat said before nervously glancing at Adrien. He hesitated, not wanting to leave the blonde alone. A comforting hand was placed on his shoulder. Coccinelle smiled, her eyes promising to help Adrien. Smiling at his partner Black Cat nodded. "Thanks dude," He said before running off to detransform in private.

* * *

"That was way too close for comfort." Nino told Alya hours later. It was in the evening, around six-thirty, the two superheroes of Paris were currently in Nino's room.

Alya frown before leaning back in Nino's swirl chair as a tiny red sprite zipped out of her pocket. "That's an understatement. Chat Blanc was moments away from taking your ring." She said before offering Tikki one of the cookies she'd brought from Marinette's bakery.

Plagg floated lazily near Tikki. "Cheese..." He moaned, hoping his user would get the memo that he was hungry. Nino sighed as he got up to grab a small chunk of brie from his stash. Returning moments later he tossed the small wedge up in the air for Plagg to catch in his mouth. Swallowing it in one bite the kwami sighed in content as he rubbed his belly.

Now fed Plagg closed his green eyes before lowering himself to Nino's pillow to take a little cat nap. "Little glutton." Nino muttered half-heartedly as he sat back down before looking at Alya. "Yeah. I would never have expected Adrien to be so strong...or tell that many stupid puns."

Alya snickered as she recalled some of Chat Blanc's lines. "Yeah. Purrhaps you should hand over your miraculous while I'm feline generous." The dark skinned girl shook her head. "Who actually talks like that?" She asked with a snort.

Nino sighed. "Sad thing is being akumatized didn't change his sense of humor. Adrien likes telling stupid jokes like that." He admitted with an exaggerated grimace.

"Your boy better find himself some better jokes, or else the perfect model image he has going for him will be ruined." Alya teased good naturedly.

Nino chuckled in order to hide his discomfort at Alya's unintentional jab. 'Can't have that happen. God forbid Adrien gets to be happy.' He didn't say out loud.

Nino hated seeing how unhappy his best bud was. The teen model had no freedom and almost zero friends, Adrien's two closest friends were himself and Chloe Bourgeios. The latter of whom wasn't exactly the best of friends to have, as her presence made it difficult for Adrien to make more friends.

And today, on his birthday of all things, Adrien's father had forbidden him from continuing to associate with Nino, after said boy had tried arranging a birthday party for him. That had resulted in Papillon sinking his claws into the vulnerable blonde model. Thankfully Black Cat and Coccinelle were able to beat his akuma form, even if it had been due to Marinette.

'Speaking of which...' Nino glanced over at his partner. "How's Marinette?" He inquired honestly concerned for the pigtailed girl. He still felt bad for having accidently almost crushed her to death with his Cataclysm.

Alya frowned as she recalled seeing the akumatized version of Adrien holding Marinette hostage before mentally chasing the image away. "She's fine, a little shaken up but she'll bounce back quickly."

Nino nodded, relieved to know that his other friend would be okay. "That's good, we definitely should keep it under wraps about who Chat Blanc was."

Alya nodded, she didn't even want to know how Marinette would react to knowing that her crush had been the one who behind Chat Blanc's mask. 'If she found that out she'd probably never be able to talk to him again.' Not that Marinette didn't already have trouble talking to her crush.

"I'm curious though." Nino said after a long while of silence. At Alya's confused expression he elaborated. "Even though Adrien was akumatized, when Marinette's life was in danger he saved her." At the cost of losing no less. "Not that I'm not thankful, but I can't remember ever seeing an akuma risking everything to save someone."

Alya shrugged, not at all able to think up a decent explanation as to why Chat Blanc would do that. "Maybe Adrien's secretly in love her? I don't know." She ventured secretly gauging her boyfriend's reaction. Alya would like it if he could confirm that, considering she had spent the last few months trying to help Marinette.

Nino crossed his arms. He doubted that, Adrien had never really expressed interest in any particular girl. According to the blonde he hadn't really met anyone who he liked. Most girls who were interested in him were usually only after him for fame, looks, or wealth. 'Or any combination of the three.' Nino thought, slightly bitter at all negative things his best friend had to deal with.

The holder of the Black Cat Miraculous knew about Marinette's planet sized crush on Adrien. And Nino could see Marinette being a good girl for his best friend. 'If she could get over her fan girl mentality...' The dark skinned youth thought to himself with a mental sigh.

Thankfully she wasn't anywhere near as bad as most of Adrien's fans, and actually did seem to care about him. Alya had told him about the light blue scarf that Marinette had knitted for Adrien, and he felt that it was a sweet gesture. Not many people who claimed to love Adrien did stuff like that for him.

If Marinette could get herself in order he'd be more than happy to support her pursuing his best bud. "Who knows." He eventually said. Sometime later Alya left to begin their nightly patrol followed by Nino who snuck out of his window.

* * *

Despite his best attempts Adrien found himself still wide awake by 1:00am. It had been many hours since he'd been released from his akuma form yet he didn't at all feel better. If anything he felt awful. Not even the gift his father had given him through Nathalie could keep his spirits up for long. It was common knowledge that anyone akumatised by Papillon retained next to no memories. Adrien was a different story, he could recall nearly everything that had happen.

Earlier that morning.

Adrien's wide eye stare was an easy indicator that he was shell shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Wh-what did you just say?" He asked in a breathless tone as he felt his chest tighten.

The image of his father displayed on Nathalie's tablet frowned. "You heard me the first time Adrien. From henceforth you will not associate with that boy, he is a terrible influence on you." He said before abruptly cutting the feed, not giving Adrien a chance to argue.

Nathalie's expression gave way to pity before she schooled it into her usual mask of professionalism. Turning over the tablet in her hand she pulled up Adrien's schedule for the day and begin listing off his appointments. "Today you have a photo shoot at 11:00am-"

Adrien didn't hear a word she said, all he could think of what his father had just done. He had just told him that he could no longer be friends with Nino, probably the only person who actually gave a damn about what Adrien wanted in life. Adrien could count on one hand the number of people in his life who weren't actively trying to take from him. Nino was the first person on that list since his mom died, and his father had just forbade him from being friends with him.

The blonde youth clenched his teeth before abruptly standing up, causing Nathalie to pause. Before anything could be said he had ran away. He ignored the calls of his father's secretary, not caring what she had to say.

He didn't know where he was going, all he knew was that he needed to be somewhere no one would find him. Eventually his legs grew tired and he collapsed on the ground in an alleyway near his school. "It's not fair!" He hissed angrily punching the ground. "I do everything he asks! And when the one person who cares about me wants to do something nice for me he goes and...Agh!" He punched the ground again as he allowed his rage to be released.

For the first time Adrien allowed himself to feel anger at his father. The father who was never there, the father who never showed affection, the father who never cared about his wants and needs. Why did he have to suffer like this? How could a parent treat their child like this? Why was he not allowed freedom or happiness?

Years of pent up frustration was more than enough for Papillon to sense him. Moments later a dark butterfly had found him and landed on the simple black ring on his right hand. The ring suddenly became white with a yellow paw print.

"Chat Blanc." Papillon's soothing voice greeted. "I understand your pain. Neglected by an uncaring parent is one of the worst things for a child to endure. But if you retrieve Black Cat and Coccinelle's jewels then I will help you. What do you say?"

"I accept." Green eyes narrowing, Adrien's mouth morphed into a grin as his appearance was altered into that of a cat themed villain.

Moments later Chat Blanc was attacking the nearby school, causing enough of a disturbance to flush Black Cat and Coccinelle out of hiding. The initial skirmish between him and the two heroes had proven that while Chat Blanc could handle them both in a one on one fight he couldn't take them together.

Retreating he ended up bumping into Marinette who had been hiding in a random classroom. Seeing a golden opportunity he grabbed her. "A-paw-logies, My Dear, but you're coming with me." He informed the shaken girl before jumping out of the window with her screaming in his ear.

To his surprise as he ran through the rooftops she continued to struggle for a bit until he tightened his hold on her and whispered in her ear. "Careful My Dear, I can land on my feet with no problem, but if I drop you..." He didn't finish that statement. His unsaid words was enough to make Marinette settle down.

Eventually they arrived at an abandoned factory. After being ushered in by Chat Blanc, Marinette found herself slowly inching away from him. At the sound of her moving the white feline turned his eyes on her. The twin tailed girl panicked at his gaze before flinching and covering her head in preparation of being attacked.

Chat Blanc frowned at her fearful actions, for some reason seeing her so afraid of him made his stomach churn. "No need to feline afraid My Dear, I mewight be the bad guy but I would never lay a paw on you." Chat Blanc was surprised at the sincerity of his own words. Hurting Black Cat and Coccinelle had been no problem, even terrorizing his fellow students hadn't bothered him too much. But seeing Marinette's fearful actions was unpleasant.

He couldn't fathom why. As Adrien he had little to no interaction with the girl, save for their initial meeting where she wrongfully accused him of placing gum on her seat. The last real serious conversation they had, was that rainy afternoon where he explained that he had actually been trying to remove the gum, and that he wasn't so good in social situations. Afterwards he handed her his umbrella and left.

Despite the situation for some reason Chat Blanc didn't want to cause this girl any undue harm. Conflicting thoughts aside he still had a job to do and she was his hostage. 'Maybe they'll hand over their miraculous when I ask them nicely?' He sarcastically thought before sighing.

"Ho-how do I kno-know that you wo-won't?" Marinette finally stuttered out, breaking him away from his thoughts.

Raising an eyebrow Chat Blanc smirked. "You don't, you'll just have to trust meow when I say it." He told her before walking away from her. Without sparing her another glance he continued to speaking. "I wouldn't bother trying to es-cat-e if I were you, my recommendation, look for a corner to sit in and wait for your rescuers."

After a few seconds of silence Marinette felt her left eye twitching. "Wa-was that supposed to be a pun?" She asked slowly relaxing. "Because that was awful."

Chat Blanc turned to look at her, slightly surprised at seeing her fear slowly ebbing away. Putting on a grin he rebutted with. "I think the word you're looking for is clawsome." At Marinette's eye roll he couldn't help but cackle. "Does the lady find mew sense of humor lacking?" He asked before suddenly appearing in Marinette's personal space.

The dark haired girl sucked up a breath of nervous air before responding. "Hu-Humor?" She squeaked lightly before regaining a little bit of her nerve. "Th-that was supposed to be funny?"

"Pawsitively." Chat Blanc chuckled at seeing Marinette's knee jerk reaction of rolling her eyes.

Over the next few minutes he continued supplying puns to the dark haired girl, finding enjoyment as her responses slowly became sassier and sassier. After a little while she had actually become semi-comfortable around him and was letting out a fair amount of snark at his cheeky remarks. Sadly their pleasant banter was broken when Black Cat and Coccinelle had arrived.

Despite not wishing to Chat Blanc had forced himself to hold the fuller of his sword to Marinette's neck as he politely demanded the two heroes relinquish their miraculous. The action had made him inwardly sick as he felt her stiffen against him in fear. He was more than happy to delay his reaction time as Black Cat rushed forward and Coccinelle's yoyo wrapped around his wrist.

Once Marinette was away from him Chat Blanc found it easier to actually follow through with Papillon's desires. And before long the cat themed villain found himself being defeated after saving Marinette's life.

* * *

Adrien frowned as he continued tossing and turning. Despite not having caused Marinette any real pain he couldn't help but still feel disgusted by his actions. He had terrorized his school and kidnapped one of his (could he consider her a friend?) classmates.

One thing he was thankful for was that no one had managed to put together that today's akuma had been Adrien Agreste. He could only imagine how horrible that would be. 'Though I wonder if father would have felt any regret?' The cynical side of him doubted that. Gabriel Agreste never showed any hint of remorse when it came to making decisions. 'No. He'd probably just scold me for feeling they way I felt.' Adrien couldn't help but feel bitter.

Suddenly something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. "Wh-?" At seeing what it was he let out a yelp. "Not again!" He exclaimed as the white creature neared him. As the tiny butterfly landed on his knee Adrien clenched his eyes shut and stiffened, not daring to move.

A long moment of silence passed before a small voice pierced through. "Uh? What's the matter?" At the hesitant voice Adrien slowly opened his eyes and chanced a peek. At what he had initially believed to be an akuma was anything but. There resting on his knee was a tiny white cat with yellow eyes.

He had never seen a creature like this, so it took Adrien a moment to gather his wits. "Wh-what are you?" The blond model asked after awhile.

The creature tilted it's head with an odd expression before smiling. "I'm a kwami, my name's Tigga." The tiny creature happily chirped. "What's your name?" The kwami asked.

Adrien sat in silence as he allowed himself to process. The only thing he understood was the creature's name. "I'm Adrien." He told her. "What's a kwami?" He asked while tilting his head, finding the situation weird.

The white kwami fixed him with a grin. "I'm so glad you asked." She said before going on into a fairly lengthy explanation as to what she was and how she would be able to make him into a superhero.

"You mean like Black Cat and Coccinelle?" Adrien asked after she finished talking. Momentarily forgetting his earlier anguish he found himself getting sucked into Tigga's explanation.

Tigga nodded happily, assuming the blonde was talking about this generations Black Cat and Ladybug. "Exactly. Just like the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculous, with the White Cat miraculous you can become a superhero."

Adrien frowned looking down at the ring on his hand. He had worn it everyday since his mom disappeared, it was one of the last things she had given him. Even when sleeping he kept the ring on. Now he knew that his ring was no ordinary piece of jewelry, it was a Miraculous. "I...I don't know about this." He uttered hesitantly as he recalled his time as Chat Blanc.

Tigga made a sympathetic expression before entering Adrien's line of sight again by flying up to him. "I know that your first transformation wasn't exactly a pleasant experience." Even if she hadn't been fully aware she had been able to see snippets of the events from earlier. "But from here on you'll be in one-hundred percent in control."

Not giving him time to respond she continued speaking. "Being controlled like that isn't fun I'm sure, but I'm thankful it happened. Without it I wouldn't have been woken up, use this as an opportunity to do good, Chat Blanc might have been a villain earlier, but he can be a hero now."

Adrien looked between Tigga and the ring before nodding hesitantly, slowly becoming convinced. "Okay, I'll try." He said with more confidence than he felt. "So, how do I do this?" He asked looking down at the ring.

Tigga smiled happy at her charge's, albeit reluctant, acceptance. "It's easy. Just say Tigga, Fangs Bared! and viola you'll become Chat Blanc." Adrien looked down at the ring for a second before laughing under his breath. "What? I'm serious." The white cat said with a slight huff.

Adrien stopped laughing. "I know, I was just expecting that for a moment you were going to say, that I needed to say it was morphing time!" He explained with another snicker.

Tigga raised an eyebrow, figuring that he was making reference to something she didn't understand. Deciding not to ask she crossed her tiny paws together and gave him a fixed look. "So you going to transform or..."

"Right." Adrien said as he stood up. "Okay then, Tigga, Fangs Bared!" He called out causing the white cat to get sucked into the ring.

Envloped in a bright white light Adrien disappeared before reappearing clad in a white skin tight suit. He looked exactly as he did before, cat ears on his head, rapier on his hip, tail hanging loose. The only addition to the suit was the small buckler attached to his left arm. "Wow." He muttered under his breath, taking in his appearance.

He could feel Tigga in the back of his mind. While she didn't speak he could feel her urging him to leave this room and test his newfound capabilities.

Any of his earlier lethargy was forgotten as Adrien opened his bedroom window and leapt out into the sky. Taking extra care to keep from triggering any alarms, he left the premises of the Agreste mansion, and began running across rooftops.

Leaping, weaving, and rolling, the blond cried out in euphoria. His lungs burned, but he felt no pain or tiredness, only freedom. It felt amazing to run so fast, to make death defying jumps. This is what he had wanted his whole life, and he had never realized it.

* * *

Adrien ended up staying out so late that by the time he returned home the sun already making its assent. School was going to be rough today he realized. Yet as his transformation dropped and Tigga landed in his cupped hands, Adrien found that he didn't mind. For the first time in a while he felt good, no great.

Thankfully he managed to keep his exhaustion hidden. Make up did wonders for hiding bags under a person's eyes. Plus with his hectic schedule he was more than capable of running on low sleep. Though no sleep wasn't something he wanted to get accustomed to. He fiddled with the light blue scarf around his neck while stifling a yawn. The material felt very high quality, a part of him wondered if his dad had personally made it.

"In hind sight it wasn't a good idea to stay out that late." Tigga said from her spot on the table as she ate her breakfast. Most kwami's had a food of choice that they always asked for, for Tigga it was tuna. She had told Adrien that it would be smart for him to always have a can on hand in case he needed to transform.

Taking his attention off of his father's present Adrien sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I lost track of time, my fault. I didn't realize just how much fun it would be." He said, allowing some of his excitement to show.

Tigga grinned, happy to see her new chosen becoming comfortable. "If you think that's fun then just you wait, you haven't seen anything yet. Our first battle will come it's always very exhilarating." The tiny god told him, her fangs gleaming in the morning light.

Adrien nodded, sharing some of Tigga's excitement for what was to come. "I'll keep that in mind. But you might want to hurry it up. I'm going to be late for school." He said before standing up. At his prompting the tiny cat quickly gobbled up the last of her food and allowed her charge to take the empty can to throw away. Tigga zipped into Adrien's bag as he went to meet with the Gorilla so he could be driven to school.

Adrien's arrival to Collège Françoise Dupont was met with thankfully much less fanfare then it had been the last few weeks. Having been attending this school for nearly a month Adrien had been pleased to see the number of fans waiting for him in the morning dwindle. Upon learning that he wasn't anything amazing most fans tended to lose interest. Sure as a model he was attractive, but to most he came off as somewhat uninterestingly dull personality-wise.

The only person who talked to him on a daily basis, excluding his childhood friend, was Nino. Of course Nino's girlfriend usually greeted him in the morning but they never had any substantial conversations .

Also there were always Marinette's frantic greetings as she stumbled over her words before speeding away from him. 'I guess she's still not completely over the gum thing...' Adrien couldn't help but feel disappointed at that. He thought after he offered her his umbrella that day that they might be able to become friends but...

"And if she knew that it was me yesterday I doubt we'd ever be friends." He muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Tigga asked, popping her head out of Adrien's bag.

Adrien frowned, not wanting to talk to the tiny white cat about his problems revolving around Marinette. "Nothing, don't worry about it." He didn't see the look on the kwami's face, but from her furrowed brow it was obvious that she would question her charge about this another time.

"Sup dude?" Nino greeted the blonde as he entered the room.

Adrien smiled tiredly at his best friend before walking over to him. "Not much man, how's it going?" He asked while bumping fist with the dark skinned boy.

"Obviously better than you right now." Nino commented as Adrien let loose a drawn out yawn. "Did you, like, get any sleep?" He asked with his usual chill tone, though on the inside he was growing concern for Adrien. 'Being akumatized must have really got to him yesterday.' Nino knew that his bud hadn't really had many very good birthdays, but one could only assume that being controlled by Papillon was not a better way to spend it. 'I should have came by to check on him last night.'

Adrien chuckled warily. "That obvious?" He quietly asked.

"Very," Nino said. "So what happened? Did your pops have you do one of those midnight shoots or something?" He asked, despite being very certain that wasn't the case.

Adrien sat back in his seat for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, something like that." He said, obviously lying.

Nino sat in silence as he debated whether or not to confront his friend on the bold faced lie. Unfortunately the choice was taken from him as Alya entered the room, with Marinette in tow.

"Good morning guys." She greeted the two boys while heading for her seat behind Nino. Catching sight of the familiar scarf around Adrien's neck she smirked before giving her blushing friend a knowing look. "Nice scarf Agreste," She commented, her eyes turning in Marinette's direction.

Adrien offered a polite smile in return. Hearing the red head's compliment caused him to look down at the baby blue scarf. "Thanks, it was a birthday gift from my dad." He explained. Even if he was still upset about his father telling him not to socialize with Nino anymore, the fact that his father had bothered to get him a birthday gift was not something that could be overlooked.

Alya looked momentarily surprised at that before narrowing her eyes at her best friend. 'I could have sworn she signed the card?' She thought in confusion but didn't correct the blonde. Maybe with a bit of prompting the pig tailed girl would muster up the courage to do so herself. "Well it's very nice, wouldn't you say so Marinette?" She asked, putting the spotlight on her best friend.

Marinette internally screamed as she tried and failed to talk normally. "Ye-yes! It very nice looks." The twin tailed girl gritted her teeth as she tried again. "I mean you look very nice! With that scarf, it really helps bring it all together..." Marinette ended quietly, deciding to just quit while she was ahead.

Adrien smiled at the dark haired girl's compliment. While it was hard to follow her when she talked so excitedly he was able to appreciate her attempts to be nice to him. "Thanks Marinette, I really like this scarf." He said looking down at it. "I just wish I knew whether or not my dad made it personally, and if not I'd like to know who he'd commission to do so." He muttered the last bit to himself though the other three clearly heard him.

Marinette gulped. Now was her chance, her chance to take some credit for the scarf. Even if he didn't know that she had intended to give him the gift he could at least know that her hands had lovingly crafted it for him. However it was not meant to be as her courage was nowhere to be seen. "I...uh...I...I cou-couldn't tell you, it'samysterysoit'sbestnottoworryaboutitokgottagotakemyseatbye!" She said before retreating to her seat and pulling out her text book. Adrien looked at her strangely before shrugging and turning around to face the front.

Alya fixed her best friend with a look of pity. 'Someday eventually I will teach that girl to be herself around him.' She promised herself before joining Marinette at their shared table. "That'll do girl, that'll do." She said soothingly as she rubbed the twin tailed girl's shoulder.

"I suck..." Marinette muttered under her breath. "Why can't I just act normal around him?" She bemoaned quietly.

"You'll get there Mari, one step at a time." Alya encouraged the Chinese girl while continuing to pat her shoulder.

* * *

"Crap!" Black Cat cried out as he avoided one of the vines. "Any idea where the akuma is yet?!" He called out to his partner who was also busy ducking and weaving.

"Nope!" Coccinelle replied.

It had happened shortly after lunch began, Alya and Nino had elected to have lunch with their two best friends. A sort of belated birthday lunch for Adrien, they had agreed. As they sat down at the little café the screaming had began and Nino and Alya had been forced to ditch their two friends with the lame excuse that they had forgotten their wallets at the school. Neither had seen Adrien leave the store moments later, telling Marinette to stay where she was.

Coccinelle cried out in surprise as she felt a vine wrap around her leg and hoist her up. "Now I'll be taking your miraculous." Jungle King stated as he made to take her earrings.

"Hiya!" Nino cried out as he smacked the Akuma away with his baton. "You okay, babe?" He asked his partner who quickly freed herself from the vine.

"Yeah I'm al- Look out!" Coccinelle cut herself off with a shriek as she rushed for her partner.

Seeing the bus flying at them Nino gritted his teeth. "Cataclysm!" He quickly shouted before slamming his palm out and destroying the bus. Immediately afterwards the two heroes were swept away by another vine, causing them to fly into a small hair products store.

"Oh that's distressing." Alya muttered as she watched the entrance be sealed up by a series of vines.

"Good, now that you have them trapped it's only a matter of time before Black Cat's transformation wears off and you can take his ring!" Papillon shouted victoriously in the akuma's head.

It was at that point that Chat Blanc arrived on the scene. Unsheathing his rapier he took a defensive stance. "En garde!" He shouted to Jungle King who turned to face this new challenger.

Chat Blanc allowed himself a moment to study his opponent. Jungle King was a dark skinned lean man with dark brown hair and red war paint on his face. He had a grass skirt on and was barefooted. In his hands was a long wooden staff.

Jungle King frowned as the outline of a butterfly appeared over his face. "How are you still here? Why are you pointing that thing at me?!" He cried out pointing his staff in retaliation.

"The why and how doesn't matter, all you need to know is that this cat's here to prune your branches."

Jungle King scowled before sending a number of vines to attack the white cat. Chat Blanc's movements were hard to follow as he deftly avoided the vines with little difficulty. As fast as Black Cat and Coccinelle were it was quickly becoming apparent that the white cat was far quicker.

Within seconds Chat Blanc upon him, making to stab him only to be blocked. Weaving to the right Chat Blanc launched a kick in the akuma's ribs before delivering a vicious left hook. Stumbling back Jungle King scowled at the youth before charging him, staff held high.

Chat grinned as he began dodging all of Jungle King's frustrated attacks all the while taunting his opponent. "Vining for my attention are you?" He cheekily asked as a couple vines appeared behind him. Jumping over Jungle King he easily avoided them.

Landing behind the akuma Chat Blanc shot his foot out and knocked the villain over as he had been spinning to face him. Now on his back Jungle King found himself defenseless as the white cat held the tip of his rapier to his neck. "Ready to admit that flower power just isn't enough?" Chat Blanc asked teasingly.

It was at that second that the vines keeping Coccinelle and Black Cat pinned lit up in flames. The two super powered combatants looked over to see the two heroes emerging from the store. In Coccinelle's hands were a red and black spotted lighter and a can of hairspray.

The two took in the scene before them with looks of bafflement. "How the hell are you still here!?" Black Cat cried out as he pointed a clawed finger at Chat Blanc.

shrugging Chat Blanc lightly poked Jungle King with his rapier. "Can we Chat about this later? You need to find the stupid butterfly and purify this guy already!" Despite not wanting to take orders from a former akuma the two knew better than to allow Jungle King to remain akumatized any longer. After a few seconds of consideration they deduced that it was in his crown, ripping it to shreds released a familiar black butterfly.

"Goodbye, little butterfly." Coccinelle said as a pure white butterfly came out of her bandalore. Throwing the lighter into the air she shouted. "Miraculous Ladybug!" And with that the damage was fixed.

Chat Blanc sheathed his rapier before making to leave. "Hold on there pal." Black Cat called out. "We need to have a talk." He reminded the white cat.

Nodding he gestured to the tallest building in the area. "Up there, I assume you'd purrfer fur us to Chat in purrivate." He explained before quickly making for the rooftops.

"Dammit Adrien..." Black Cat muttered under his breath with a groan.

Coccinelle needed to detransform to recharge her kwami, due to having used her Lucky Charm. Thankfully Black Cat had already recharged his Miraculous and hadn't needn't use Cataclysm a second time. "It is you, right...Adrien?" He asked while the two waited for his spotted partner.

Chat Blanc paused as he considered whether or not to be honest with the black cat themed hero. With a decisive frown he nodded. "Yeah, its me, its Adrien." He admitted.

Neon green eyes narrowed in thought. "How, how did you get akumatized again?" He asked worriedly, hand resting on his baton.

Chat smiled sheepishly. "I'd rather not repeat mewself so let's wait for your lady. I promise that I'll explain as best I can." He told him earnestly.

Black Cat looked like he wanted to protest but refrained. Judging by the white cat's attitude it really was Adrien calling the shots. He could wait a few more seconds to hear the story. No sooner had that thought left his mind did he hear the familiar zip of Coccinelle's yoyo. Landing next to him the spotted hero met her partner's gaze, before looking at Chat Blanc. After a moment she hesitantly placed her weapon on her hip.

Chat Blanc grinned. "Well now that we're all here I guess I should pull the cat out of the bag."

Coccinelle and Black Cat stood impassively as they listened to Chat Blanc explain how late last night he had been visited by a white cat kwami. "So you're telling us that you've had a Miraculous this whole time and didn't know it?" The spotted heroine asked somewhat dubiously.

"It's crazy I know, but it's the truth. My kwami told me that she'd been dormant for a very long time. When the akuma went into the ring it woke her up."

Black Cat nodded along with the story. "I see. Well that's pretty cool." He said, believing Adrien almost instantly. Having heard the blonde explain the situation he could clearly see the earnestness in his best friend's eyes.

Chat Blanc grinned. "You're telling me. Being transformed feels so amazing, after the first time I did it willingly I ended up staying out till dawn." He admitted with a nervous chuckle.

Black Cat laughed as well, now realizing what Adrien's earlier exhaustion had stemmed from. 'At least he wasn't worrying about what happened.' He thought, a little relieved to know that his best bud was in a better state than he had previously thought.

Coccinelle frowned as she took in Chat Blanc's posture. From the way he was behaving it was easy to see that Adrien was in control, still she couldn't help but have some reservations. "So you're absolutely sure that there's no akuma in the ring?"

Chat Blanc looked at the red haired girl with slight surprise before nodding. "Yes. You guys already captured it. It's just my kwami with me now." He assured her. With an understanding expression he continued. "I get it, you're just being cautious. It makes sense that you might not be so quick to trust a former enemy, but I'm on your side now."

Black Cat turned to look at his girl who glanced at him. A silent exchange passed between them before Coccinelle relented and allowed a small smile. If Nino's faith in Adrien was that strong then she could trust him as well. "Okay then I believe you." She told the blonde.

Chat Blanc grinned in response. "I'm glad." He said before extending a closed fist out. "It's an honor to work with you guys." He told the two heroes honestly excited to be working alongside Paris' Miraculous duo.

Coccinelle responded in kind, gently bumping his fist. "Welcome to the team." She said as Black Cat stepped forward and gently grabbed Chat Blanc's wrist and pulling him in for a bro hug.

"We're glad to have you." He said before stepping back.

And on that day Paris's number of heroes grew from two to three.

* * *

Hope you all enjoyed that. This was a nice change of pace to write, not sure when the next chapter will be out but hopefully it'll be soon. This was not betaed by anyone, so there might be a few mistakes but I did my best to catch them.


	2. Princess and her White Knight

This is a tad shorter than the last chapter, but I decided not to make you guys wait on this. Anyway here we see some development and an akuma battle. Hope you all enjoy this, I know I am.

* * *

The White Cat

Part Two: Princess and her white knight

The citizen's of Paris didn't take long to figure out that a new hero had joined Black Cat and Coccinelle. Following his debut fight against Jungle King, Chat Blanc had been sighted throughout Paris numerous time alongside either Coccinelle or Black Cat. A quick press conference was called to introduce the pun loving cat as their new ally.

Despite there being some whispers among citizens about his former akuma status there was no protest. And he had more then proven himself during the subsequent attacks. In the battle against Stormy Weather, Chat Blanc had put his fencing skills to the absolute test and managed to disarm the chilly villain. Doing so had given Coccinelle the opening she needed to purify the akuma before she could freeze all of Paris

Despite the duo knowing his identity they weren't comfortable with immediately revealing their civilian selves to him. Adrien had taken no offense, figuring that he'd earn their confidence soon enough. For now he was content to enjoy the life of being a miraculous wielder.

For the first time in his young life he had freedom. Moving at high speeds through the Paris starlit sky was a rush that he could not get enough of. So what if he was getting less sleep then ever before? For once he was doing something he wanted to.

Landing on the rooftop of the highest building in the area, Chat Blanc gave pause as his buckler started ringing. Bring the small shield up to eye level he tapped the center of it and watched it split open to reveal a screen. Both Black Cat and Coccinelle's faces were displayed. "Clear on the northwest end. Any noise tonight?" Coccinelle reported.

"It's quiet on the northeast."

Chat Blanc nodded. "The south is clear, I stopped a mugger or two but other than that it's been quiet." He told the two.

One thing that Chat Blanc was happy to learn was that he was unbelievably fast. Like three times faster than Coccinelle or Black Cat. So with his superior speed, and eagerness to prove himself, he had happily volunteered to cover more ground then them.

"I think we should call it for tonight." Coccinelle suggested with a hum of approval. While she initially might have been weary of Adrien joining them she was enjoying the benefits. Joint patrols went by so fast now, it was nice to actually have time for her homework again.

Black Cat nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm ready to conk out." He told his two allies before stifling a yawn.

Chat Blanc frowned mildly, despite having to be up early for a morning shoot he wasn't all that tired. He still felt like running for a bit longer. "I'm going to stay out for a bit longer." He informed the duo of his plans.

Black Cat mirrored his frown. "You sure about that dude? Didn't you say you had an early start tomorrow?" Knowing that Chat Blanc's identity was that of a celebrity the two heroes had asked him to always be forthcoming about his schedule so they would know when he was available. Adrien had been more than accommodating in that regard. Alya was ashamed to admit that she now knew Adrien's schedule even better than Marinette did.

Chat Blanc nodded, not at all bothered. "I know, but it's only ten o'clock, I figure I could run around for a bit, tire myself out, and get a good night's sleep." He explained his thought process.

The two seemed to accept this and opted not to question him any further on it. "Okay then, good night. Try not to stay out too late man." Black Cat said before signing off shortly before Coccinelle did the same.

* * *

Now alone Chat Blanc stood up straight before stretching out his long limbs. With a hum of approval he leaped into the air and continued running at top speed. After a short while of hopping from rooftop to rooftop he realized that he was nearing the school. Deciding that he might as well head home and try to get some sleep he changed his direction.

Catching a whiff of something sweet smelling made him pause. Sniffing the air he realized it was the lingering smell of freshly baked bread. As he caught sight of the Dupain-Cheng bakery Adrien's thoughts went out to his dark haired classmate. Despite it having been a couple of weeks since his debut as a new hero of Paris, Adrien still felt shame for having held the shy (yet surprisingly sassy) girl hostage.

Just as he was about to pass by the bakery something caught his attention. There on the rooftop was the current subject of his thoughts, with a sketchpad on her lap and pencil in hand. A pink blanket had been draped across her shoulders to ward away the nighttime chill. Even from a few rooftops away Chat, with his enhanced vision, could see the pensive look on her face. The furrow of her brow as she lightly chewed on the end of her eraser before twirling it in her fingers and erasing something.

Shaking his head Adrien realized that he had been staring. He made to turn and head back in the direction of his home but paused yet again. Looking back at his classmate the blonde made a snap decision and quickly made for her balcony.

So engrossed in her designing Marinette did not pick up the muffled thump of him landing on her roof. Nor did she hear him approach. She still had no idea that he was in her presence even as he looked over her shoulder to see what she was drawing.

Chat Blanc blinked as he saw what she was drawing. It appeared that Marinette was in the process of designing a jacket, not just any jacket though. While it wasn't colored he could see the pattern of black spots carefully placed on it. 'A jacket based off of Coccinelle?' The white feline thought in surprise.

Adrien knew of his classmate's dream of being a fashion designer, he had heard her and Alya talk about it numerous times. Yet he had never gotten the chance to see any of her designs for himself. Standing there looking at her work he couldn't help but admit that she was quite good at it. Yes she obviously had much to learn, even he could deduce that. Considering she was only fifteen, it was clear that she had a promising future in the business.

Deciding that he had silently intruded on her long enough, Adrien decided to make his presence known. "Good even, Princess." He greeted in his best suave voice.

Not expecting his greeting, or how close he was, Marinette shrieked in surprise as she jumped out of her chair. Turning to see who had invaded her balcony she paused at seeing the white feline. "Ch-Chat Blanc!? Wh-what are you doing here?" She stuttered out before taking a hesitant step backwards.

Seeing that he had sufficiently scared her Chat Blanc felt his ears flatten as his face became regretful. "Apawlogies. It was not my intent to startle you." He told her remorsefully.

Marinette frowned mildly at the pun. "Too late for that." She quietly said before smoothing out the wrinkles on her pajama pants. "What are you doing here, Chat Blanc?" She asked with a little more nerve.

The white feline smiled lightly. "I was just finishing up my patrol, heading home," Chat's smile became more bold. "Then I happened upon a beautiful princess in her tower. Figured I'd see if she needed saving." The blonde said with a light wink.

Marinette didn't look very impressed. Her initial meeting with Chat Blanc hadn't been the best, but she had been fairly quick in accepting him as a new hero of Paris. She had seen some of the interviews he had done alongside Coccinelle and Black Cat, and she had pegged him as a dork. Though perhaps she'd need to reclassify him as a flirtatious dork.

"Hate to break it to you, Kitty, but your princess is in another castle. Might want to check elsewhere."

Chat grinned at the snarky remark. "Now, now Princess no need to be like that. I even went through the trouble of fighting a bunch of turtles to get to you."

Marinette snorted before crossing her arms. "Sorry Mario, but I'm no princess Peach." Despite brushing off his remarks her lips were set in an amused smile.

Adrien's grin became even wider, very much enjoying the back and forth. "Of course you're not, you're way prettier then Peach." He said with a light wink.

Much to Marinette's chagrin she couldn't help but admit that Chat Blanc's latest remark did actually make the tips of her ears pink. Thankfully she had her hair down so he couldn't see the telltale evidence of him effecting her. "Smooth Casanova. Did you stay up all night writing that one?"

"Nah, I just have a way with words."

Marinette rolled her eyes with an amused chuckle. "Keep telling yourself that, maybe eventually someone else will believe it." Chat just grinned in response.

After a few moments of silence Marinette relaxed before taking a moment to observe her uninvited guest. He had turned away to look up at the starry sky. "Seriously, why did you come here?" She asked, honeslty curious as to why a former akuma turned hero would come visit plain old Marinette.

Adrien glanced at the dark haired girl, a tentative smile replacing his earlier grin. "Honestly? I don't know." He said before glancing away as he realized that he was lying. Sighing he rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe..." He trailed off.

Marinette watched him in mild confusion, no idea what he was thinking. The silence stretched on for a few minutes until she spotted the plate of croissants on the table near her chair. There were only a couple left but she decided that she might as well not let them go to waste. Grabbing the plate she turned and offered them to him. "You want some?" She asked breaking him out of his thoughts.

Turning to see the plate of offered baked goods Adrien felt his stomach growl, it had been quite some time since he had dinner. Reaching out he grabbed one. "Thank you." He said before munching on it.

Marinette silently watch him devour the croissant, if she didn't know any better she'd have mistaken him for a starving man. 'It's almost like he's never had a croissant before.' She thought before silently offering him another.

After finishing his second croissant Adrien sighed happily. "Those are good." He told her. 'Why have I never had these before?' Oh yeah, strict model diet.

Marinette grinned. "Of course they're good, you are at the best bakery in all of Paris." She proudly claimed.

"Hmm." Chat hummed, agreeing with her sentiments. "I'll have to stop by during the daytime one of these days, My Dear." He told her.

Marinette grinned playfully. "Just make sure you do it without the cat ears, or we might get swarmed by news reporters."

Chat Blanc grinned at her quip. "I can see it now, local bakery feeds stray alley cat." The blond said before sharing a laugh with her.

Silence hung between the pair for a couple more minutes. Adrien absent mindedly fiddled with the buckler on his left arm before glancing at the girl next to him. Now that he took a moment to think he found himself very surprised to see this side of Marinette. During the day whenever he talked to her she always seemed to freak out. Stuttering and fumbling over her words, getting unbelievably flustered.

At first he thought she was just painfully shy, but then he saw how she didn't act like that with anyone else. 'Just Adrien. Even with Chat Blanc she's confident and sassy.' While her flustered self was kind of endearing, Adrien found that he much preferred the side who could banter with him. 'Why can she be herself with everyone except for Adrien?' He wondered somewhat sad.

Marinette was someone he could admire. She was witty, pretty, and kind. She always went out of her way to help her fellow classmates, even when it inconvenienced her. He had seen her stand up to Chloe when even he himself was too hesitant to do so. If only she could be herself around Adrien, he could probably be himself around her. Hell they'd probably be best friends if she acted like this all the time.

'What's wrong with Adrien? What is it about me that intimidates her?' Adrien questioned not for the first time since meeting the pigtailed girl. Is it because of the fame? Is it because she idolizes his father. 'She does want to be a fashion designer...' That wasn't too farfetched. Adrien sighed out loud. 'Does she still hold the gum thing against me?' He wondered worriedly before sighing yet again. 'I just don't know...'

Marinette looked up at the downtrodden feline superhero. With the silence having persisted she had resumed drawing. "Something wrong?" She asked, the snark of their earlier conversation replaced with a much lighter tone.

Taking a moment to be amazed at how quick she could switch from feisty to sweet Adrien cleared his throat. "Nothing at all My Dear...I just..." He didn't want to worry her with his problems, especially when she was the focus of them.

Marinette pursed her lips in contemplation. "If you want to talk about it I'll listen..." She offered kindly.

Adrien smiled in response. "I...uh." He paused as he knew that he couldn't tell her about what was currently on his mind, that would most certainty give his secret identity away. Chat Blanc frowned as he remembered an issue that had been bothering him earlier. He figured it would be a good way to distract him from what he was currently thinking about. Also he did want to talk to her about this.

Even though it had been a few weeks since the incident he had still felt bad about kidnapping Marinette while possessed. That would be a decent cover up for what was currently plaguing him, plus this was still something that bothered him. "The thing is," He started out slowly. "You've read the Coccinelle forum haven't you?" At Marinette's nod he continued. "And you know how when someone is akumatized that they don't remember much of what happened?" Another nod. "That's not the case for me."

Marinette raised an eyebrow at this, her curiosity sparked. "Really?"

Chat Blanc frowned as he remembered his time as a villain. "I wasn't in control that day, but I remember everything that I did." The blonde cat paused. "I remember feeling anger, I remember terrorizing the nearby school, and I even remember kidnapping you."

Marinette frowned as she listened to him speak. Despite him holding her hostage while he'd been under Papillion's influence she didn't feel any negative feelings towards him. 'Even when he was a bad guy he didn't really seem that way.' He didn't do anything to physically harm her, hell he even risked himself to save her.

"I wanted to apologize for that. I wish I could have prevented myself from doing that to you." Chat expressed, genuinely remorseful.

Marinette lips turned upward into a soft smile. 'This is what's bothering him?' She couldn't help but feel appreciation for his concern. "What, no pun?" She asked jokingly as Chat whipped his head up. "Chaton, you're forgiven. Heck I don't think I even held anything against you to begin with." She confessed. "Sure you held me hostage but you didn't do anything to hurt me, you didn't even seem like you wanted to. You even saved my life."

"If I hadn't kidnapped you, you wouldn't have been in danger to begin with." Chat argued, surprised that Marinette could be this forgiven of him.

Marinette shrugged. "Well it's not like you had any control over yourself. You were akumatized." She simply said feeling that was more than enough reason to excuse Chat Blanc's actions.

Adrien felt his lips dipping into a scowl. "Sure, but if I'd had better control over my emotions-."

Marinette gaped at him as she realized where his train of thought was going. "You can't control how you feel. Everyone gets angry at some point, even I could become akumatized." Even she realized that no one could keep a tight hold over their emotions all the time.

Despite his current mood Adrien did let slip a small smile. "Somehow I doubt that Princess. You're far to sweet and forgiving to become angry."

"I might be kind, but even I have my limits. You haven't seen how I am when Chloe's around." Actually he had, and even while Marinette could get fired up she always seemed to be in such excellent control while arguing with his childhood friend. "That girl has a knack for causing akumas to show up, I wouldn't be too surprised if she's what eventually causes me to snap."

Adrien frowned at that. For some reason the thought of facing a corrupted version of Marinette made his stomach churn. 'I couldn't fight her.' He realized with shocking clarity. Despite not being overly close to Marinette he didn't want to see her hurt. "Hmm if that happened I'm not sure I'd be able to fight you, My Princess." He admitted in a soft tone.

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up at the light affection in his voice. Looking away she allowed herself a moment to get her thoughts in order. "Well...it could happen." She said hesitantly before looking back at him. "And if it did...I would hope my white knight would do whatever it took to save me." Marinette felt her face heat up even more in embarrassment at how the conversation between them had turned out.

Adrien paused at her words, his own face heating up ever so slightly. 'She's really cute like this.' His subconscious spoke up. What had initially been lighthearted flirting was blossoming into budding affection. "Well," He chuckled lightly. "I guess I'd be a terrible knight if I let my Princess down."

Still red faced Marinette tried to cover it up with a grin. "Well if you promise to do everything in your power to save me then I promise to make sure I never snap."

For the first time in a long time Adrien felt his smile reaching his eyes. "Of course, this knight promises to keep you safe," He said while grabbing her right hand and dropping to one knee. "My Princess." He smoothly whispered before placing a gentle kiss on the back of her palm.

Pulse racing Marinette suppressed a slight squeak at his gesture, she wouldn't say it out lout but Chat Blanc could be smooth. 'At least when it matters.' She thought as she calmed her beating heart. Despite her flustered state the twin tailed girl couldn't help but return Chat Blanc's honest smile.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship that would eventually flourish into romance, but alas that was all the time they would have for that night.

*Beep!*

The two teens flinched at the shrill sound. The earlier atmosphere was broken. "What was that?" Marinette asked as Chat looked down at his right hand.

He had four minutes left, he had been transformed for hours at this point. 'Tigga must be hungry.' Adrien sighed. Despite it being late he found himself reluctant to leave Marinette's company. 'Though it's probably for the best.' Something told him that if his timer hadn't started he probably would have been on Marinette's balcony till dawn.

Stepping away from her he offered a somewhat over the top bow. "That's my cue." He told her. "If I stay here then the Purrincess will never get any beauty sleep. Not that you need it." He said with a wink. Hopping up to the railing he took one last look at her. "Au revoir, My Dear." He said before jumping off.

With his sensitive hearing he just barely heard her huff before sighing. "Goodnight minou..." Her whisper faded into the nighttime sky.

* * *

Marinette's not quite sure how she ended up becoming a hostage again. Really was it impossible for her to not end up being near an akuma attack? Today had started out so normally, she had of course waken up late. Though she could blame her sleeping in today on Chat Blanc's late night visit.

Rushing to school she had forgotten her math book, hadn't eaten breakfast, and unintentionally plowed into Adrien as she raced to get to class. That was a particular embarrassing event she did not want to relive anytime soon. 'At least he didn't seem too bothered by it...' Marinette thought thankful for Adrien's kind nature.

The day seemed to pick up as their history teacher informed them that they were going to be heading to the Lourve to check out an exhibit about ancient Egypt. Sure they'd have to write a paper about it, but it was nice to do some learning outside of a classroom. Imagine her surprise when the teacher announces they'll be paired into groups. Also imagine her surprise when Adrien's name is called out alongside hers. Mentally squealing in delight Marinette smiles dreamily at the boy in front of her.

Having felt eyes on the back of his head Adrien turned to glance at her. Offering a kind smile he raised his hand in greeting. Breaking out of her daze Marinette returned his smile with a strained awkward one of her own before looking away.

"You'll be fine girl." Alya said quietly as Adrien turned away. Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder she gave a gentle squeeze. "Just be yourself and he'll be falling for you in no time."

Marinette sighed sadly. "That's what you always say," She mumbled.

"Maybe for once you'll actually take my advice." The glasses wearing teen deadpanned. "Just leave out the uhs, ahs, and umms, and you'll do great." Alya promised helpfully.

"So, uh, what do you think, um, we should, ah, do for our report?" Marinette mentally screamed at herself as she yet again ended up not talking Alya's advice. 'Damn it...speak normal for once!' She internally commanded.

Adrien looked away from the hieroglyphs at the sound of his classmate's timid voice. He couldn't help but be disappointed at how nervous she was compared to when he saw her as Chat Blanc the previous night. With a tired sigh he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure. Maybe we could do it over a notable pharaoh?" He suggested.

Marinette hummed in response, personally not really caring what they wrote about just as long as they had something. 'Also the thought of spending time together...ah sweet death take me now...' The fact that she would be spending more time with Adrien was just downright heavenly.

At Adrien's expectant look Marinette realized that now would be a good time to respond. "Ah yeah, that good sounds." Cue the record scratch. "I mean sounds good!" Her cheeks reddened at her flub up. 'Seriously sweet death, now would be a good time.' Marinette would soon learn not to tempt fate.

Screams broke out all around them. The two teens whipped their heads around to see their fellow classmates fleeing. 'akuma!' They echoed each other's thoughts.

Grabbing the dark haired girl's wrist Adrien pulled her to the side until they were out of sight. "Stay here, and stay low." He quickly ordered before turning in the direction of the screams. "I'm going to check it out." He told her before running off.

Blue eyes widening the pigtailed girl watched him race off. "A-Adrien!" Marinette called out after him.

Entering the public restroom Adrien opened his school bag prompting Tigga to zip out. "Time to transform?" She asked, rearing to go.

Adrien nodded. "Yeah. Papillon's latest victim is attacking the museum, and who knows how long it'll take for Coccinelle and Black Cat to get here." He lifted his right hand up. "Tigga, Fangs Bared!"

Nino and Alya watched from their hiding spot as The Pharaoh approached the papyrus scroll. Regretfully there were too many witnesses for them to transform, and there was no opening for them to escape unseen by the latest villain. "This is bad." Alya muttered, clenching her fist in frustration.

"What do we do, babe?" Nino asked as he considered just saying to hell with it and transforming.

Alya's response was cut off as a while blur appeared out of nowhere and landed a kick to Pharaoh's head. The two teens watched the burly akuma stumble back in surprise as Chat Blanc landed on his feet. Drawing his sword he pointed it at the muscular figure. "Didn't realize that pharaohs were also cat burglars, should I call your mummy?" The two quietly groaned at their teammate's stupid pun, but were thankful for the distraction nonetheless.

"It's only stealing when it doesn't belong to you." Pharaoh responded coolly as he threw a punch at the cat themed hero who avoided the attack and retaliated in kind.

Chat frowned as he concentrated on dodging the akuma's attacks while trying to find an opening to counter. Despite his swords sharp tip it didn't seem to be able to pierce Pharaoh's black armor. 'I hope those two are on their way.' He thought worriedly about his teammate's whereabouts. They hadn't responded to his call so who's to say if they even knew what was happening?

Adrien quickly realized that his first mistake was not keeping his full attention on Pharaoh. Not quite prepared for the blow the blonde gasped as he felt the wind get knocked out of him. The force of his body hitting the wall was enough to send him through it. With a strangled groaned he slowly picked himself back up.

Brushing dust out of his hair Chat Blanc saw wide familiar blue eyes staring at him. "Chat Blanc, are you okay?!" Marinette cried out, peeking out of her hiding spot. She mentally cursed herself before ducking back down as she spotted the latest super villain.

"Princess?" Chat Blanc said, still slightly dazed. Suddenly remembering that there was an evil akuma nearby the blond jerked up.

"She'll do nicely." Pharaoh said, his eyes trained on the hiding girl.

'Crap!' Adrien thought to himself as he realized that Pharaoh had taken notice of his classmate. Picking himself up he rushed Papillion's latest villain. "No you don't!" The blond yelled. Tackling the akuma he held his ground and addressed the twin tailed girl. "Marinette, run!" He shouted as Pharaoh struggled against him.

Marinette gulped before springing out of her hiding spot. She didn't get very far by the time Pharaoh had overpowered the white cat. "Sekhmet, gave me strength!" A powerful shockwave sent Chat Blanc flying, his cry of pain caused Marinette to turn around to make sure he was okay.

"Chat!" She cried out before instinct took over, compelling her to run to him. Lifting him up she lightly shook him. "Chat, get up!" She pleaded as the Pharaoh continued toward them with slow methodical steps.

Scooping up the dark blue haired girl he turned to look at the white clad hero. "Too bad, white cat. But rest assured where you failed you princess, I will not fail mine." He promised before making his exit, with the girl over his shoulders he bent the security bars to the room open before bending them back closed.

As Chat Blanc came to he heard the distinct shout of. "Cataclysm!" Followed by the sound of metal crashing. "Dude, Chat you okay?" Black Cat's face appeared in his vision as he stared up at the ceiling.

Sitting up Adrien rubbed the side of his head. "Crap..." He quickly recalled what had just happened. "Oh no, he took Marinette!" He cried out before hopping back to his feet. Still recovering from the Pharaoh's blow he stumbled a little.

"Easy there," Coccinelle held him in place. As much as she wanted to rush out guns blazing to go save her best friend she knew better. Experience dictated that they'd need to come up with a plan. "He's got an army of mummies. We need to come up with a plan."

Adrien frowned but remained in place. "What do you suggest?" He asked, tail lashing in agitation behind him.

"Well he's got an army now, so it might be time to pull out the big guns." The spotted heroine informed Adrien who grinned in response.

* * *

Black Cat had been forced to remain behind for now, he needed to recharge his kwami. Pushing past the front door the two heroes paused at seeing many mummies surrounding Marinette and the akuma. "Chat, now!" Coccinelle ordered.

Adrien nodded, lifting his rapier into the air. "Nine Lives!" A golden glow enveloped his whole body and suddenly there was nine of him. "We'll handle this, get his akuma!" One of the Chats said as he and seven more of himself rushed off to contend with the group of mummies.

It was quite a sight to watch a group of identical white cats smacking around a group of mummies. "I got five minutes." The remaining Chat said as he looked down at his ring. A loud beep rung out as if to further prove his statement. "Let's end this quick."

Coccinelle nodded as she darted forward, the original Chat Blanc following her lead. "Don't worry Marinette, we'll save you!" She called out before throwing her yoyo out. Pharaoh batted it away effortlessly as Chat darted in, scooping the blue haired girl into his arms, and hopping above the remaining crowd of mummies.

Coccinelle continued her assault on the akuma, not daring to give him an opening to pursue her friend and alley.

"Fancy meeting you here Purrincess," Chat greeted cheekily as he jumped even higher. Landing on a rooftop he let her down. "Your purrsonal knight at your service." He said with an over the top bow.

To her credit Marinette was able to recover fairly quickly. At Chat Blanc's actions she couldn't help but smirk, a witty response at the tip of her tongue. Sadly now was not the time. "Chat, I think the akuma is in his necklace." She quickly informed him.

Adrien's relaxed expression became serious. Accepting her claim without question he nodded. "Thanks, Marinette. Stay here, I'll come for you as soon as Pharaoh's put under wraps." He said as his ring gave another beep. 'Down to three minutes.' Not giving her a chance to react to his pun he quickly headed back to help Coccinelle who had been joined by Black Cat.

"Coccinelle! The akuma's in his pendant!" He shouted before jumping down. Drawing his rapier he slashed downwards. Pharaoh spun on his heel, grabbing the blade, yanking him towards him he punch Chat in the stomach. "Ophf!"

Two of his clones quickly came to his aid, one from the left and the other from the right they came in. Left drew his rapier while right jumped up and landed a kick to Pharaoh's head. The akuma stumbled back, grasping the side of his head as Black Cat came in out of nowhere. "I'll take that!" He shouted while snatching Pharaoh's necklace. "Hey babe, catch!" He threw the necklace to Coccinelle who proceeded to break it.

"You've caused enough trouble for one day, I'm freeing you from evil!" The spotted heroine shouted as she caught the fluttering butterfly with her yoyo. "Goodbye, little butterfly." Tossing her yoyo into the air she called out her usual phrase and city was covered in a swarm of ladybugs.

Chat Blanc sighed in relief as he felt his clones disappear. Another beep sounded out, looking down at his ring he saw that he had less then two minutes. "Crap, I best need to get Marinette down." He muttered before looking at his teammates who had just high fived. "Well you two I best get going before I give the press something to chat about. Later!" He called out before heading back to the rooftop where he'd left Marinette.

Landing on the roof he grinned at the blue haired girl who's expression revealed her relief at seeing his return. "Your chariot awaits, My Dear." He greeted with a bow.

The dark haired girl smirked in response. "Ah, what a gentleman," She teased before Adrien scooped her up and jumped off the building.

Marinette sighed in relief as they landed on the ground. After being put down she fixed Chat with a pleasant smile. "Thanks for the save, minou." She said, truly grateful for his earlier rescue.

Chat grinned at her praise. "Just doing meow job, Princess." He told her with false professionalism. Grabbing her wrist he brought the back of her hand to his mouth before placing a gentle kiss to her knuckles. Just then his ring emitted it's final warning beep and they had to part ways. "I look forward to saving you again, until then. Au revoir."

Marinette watched him scale the nearest building before jumping away, a smile smiling gracing her lips. 'He really is a silly kitty.' She thought with a small chuckle before realizing that she should hurry back to the Lourve to meet up with her class. 'Oh crap, where's Adrien!?' She thought with some panic as she recalled the last time she saw him he had been heading towards danger.

"Well aren't you a smooth operator." Tigga said before digging into the can of tuna Adrien had given her.

Adrien felt the tips of his ears turn pink before he shook away the embarrassment of her comment. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The white cat grinned between mouthfuls of fish. "As if you don't. I see what you're doing with that cute classmate of yours. Really putting the moves on there, huh Mr. Knight in shining armor?" Adrien turned his head away causing Tigga to giggle. "No need to be embarrassed, kit. I approve, she's very cute." The kwami teased.

"Just eat your fish..." Tigga laughed in response before happily continuing her meal.

* * *

And there's the second chapter. Let me know what you think. Also this was unbetaed so the quality might be a little lower than my usual. But don't be afraid to tell me, as a writer I want to improve.


	3. Reckless

Well here's the third part of this story. I will admit that this was a fun chapter. A lot of development between our two main characters. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. This was unbetaed so it's below my standard quality, but I did my best to clean it up as much as I could.

* * *

The White Cat

Part Three: Reckless

Adrien was starting to wonder if his dark haired classmate was secretly a human sized beacon for attracting akumas. Over the last couple of weeks since the fight with Pharaoh she had been involved with five separate akuma attacks, and each time he had swooped in to save her.

When Mr. Pigeon had terrorized Paris she had been sitting outside the Trocadero, sketching her derby hat design for the competition behind held by Gabriel Agreste. Winner would have their design worn by Adrien in his next photo shoot. A flock of pigeons had begun attacking the surrounding area, mostly targeting police official, but a few stray birds began pecking at local bystandards.

Marinette had been avoiding three persistent birds who were chasing after her, their beaks snapping at her pigtails. The dark haired girl kept her sketchbook covering her head as she continued to pump her legs. If she could just get inside maybe she would be left alone.

"I got you Princess!" Adrien, as Chat Blanc grinned as he swooped in and snatched her up into his arms. Hopping on top of a car he quickly jumped up to the rooftops and started running away from the situation as Black Cat went after Mr. Pigeon. Adrien mused on how it felt like this akuma had came out of nowhere.

It had been during the lunch break, Adrien and Nino had just finished eating their meal at a nearby restaurant when the chaos began. When the blond had stood up, a lame excuse falling out of his mouth Nino had sighed tiredly as he watched the blond race off. Inwardly the dark skinned youth had considered the possibility of teaching his best bro how to be inconspicuous. Once Adrien had gotten out of sight Plagg had zipped out of his pocket and he hurried after the blonde.

"Why'd it have to be pigeons?" Chat Blanc had bemoaned when he and Black Cat arrived on the scene. "Ah...ah...ACHOO!" He sneezed. Rubbing his nose he groaned. "This is going to suck." He muttered as the dark skinned hero casted him a sympathetic glance.

The two cats decided to split up, Black Cat immediately confronting the akuma while Chat Blanc came to the remaining stragglers aid. It wasn't long after that he spotted the fleeing backside of Marinette, a surge of protectiveness flared in his chest and he quickly darted for her.

That was how they ended up here. Landing on the street near her home he offered her a charming smile while dusting off her shoulder. "Hope you don't mind this stray cat trying to pick you up." The blonde said with a slight wink.

Marinette's annoyed expression was pretty cute, especially with the feathers sticking out of her hair. Chat was about to brush them out when a tickling sensation hit his nose. 'Crap...' He covered his mouth and nose as a powerful sneeze escaped him. Sniffling he rubbed his tender nose while avoiding his classmate's mildly concerned look. "Allergies, feathers..." He explained simply.

Marinette seemed to accept this easily enough. Biting her lip she spoke for the first time to him that day. "Thanks again, Chat Blanc, you're really good at this whole super hero business." She said with a warm smile.

The blonde offered a two fingered salute. "It's what I do, Purrincess. Furgive meow for cutting fur time short, but duty calls. Au revoir." With that he quickly made his exit while Marinette, blue eyes rolling, waved him off.

Thankfully the combined efforts of Paris' three superheroes was more than enough to make short work of Papillon's latest villain. Adrien had never sneezed so much in his life, he was more than happy to put the day behind him.

On a more positive note Marinette ended up wining the design competition hosted by Gabriel Agreste. She had even impressed his father with how she was able to reveal Chloe's blatant theft of her design. While he was happy for his dark haired classmate for winning, looking at the hat he could tell that she had put a lot of herself into the design. Sadly it wasn't the best case for him. 'Why'd it have to be feathers?' The blond had complained to himself as he swallowed allergy medicine in preparation for the photo shoot with said hat.

Of course even when asked if he'd want to consult with Marinette over changing the design he had refused. It was Marinette's design, she had worked hard for this so he would endure for her to have her moment to shine.

That night after patrol he had decided to pay his princess a visit, to congratulate her on her accomplishment. Landing on her roof he wasn't disheartened to see her not around. After a few seconds of looking he spotted the trapdoor that led to her bedroom. Peering in he was pleased to see her awake. She was positively glowing, most likely still giddy at having won the competition.

Grinning Chat Blanc tapped on the glass, not too hard, but hard enough to get her attention. It had the intended effect, head snapping up in the direction of the sound Marinette was surprised to see the white feline hero looking down at her. Climbing up she undid the latch and opened it. "What are you doing here?" She asked confused by his sudden appearance. In the back of her mind she wondered if he was going to make a habit of visiting her balcony.

Adrien allowed a smirk to cross his features at her inquisition. "Well I was in the neighborhood and figured I'd check up on my favorite Princess." He explained in what he hoped was a charming voice.

Crossing her arms Marinette raised a challenging eyebrow. "Oh, so I'm your favorite princess now? How many princesses do you have?" She asked, slipping into their teasing/flirting so easily.

Chat Blanc's smirk widened as he prepared for the blush that was sure to come. "Just the one, My Dear." Damn that shade of pink was cute.

Marinette fought the blush away with a frown. "You think you're so smooth don't you?" She asked teasingly. 'Don't let him know that he actually is somewhat charming...I don't even want to know what his ego would be like then.'

Chat Blanc smiled, wiggling his eyebrows. "Well I am quite dreamy, so I've been told?" He said while privately enjoying his own inside joke.

Marinette raised an eyebrow playfully at his dramatic sigh. "Well aren't you humble?" She asked before heading down with Chat following her.

"You'd be surpurrsi-..." Adrien found himself trailing off as he noticed something off to the side. Her wall was covered in his face. 'What the hell? No seriously, what the hell?!' The blond could swear he heard the sound of a record scratching.

Adrien would be the first to admit that he was note the best at reading social situations, but even he was able to put two and two together. Marinette Dupain-Cheng liked him, a lot. 'It makes so much sense, holy crap it makes so much sense!' He shouted in his head as he took in the numerous pictures, there were even cutout of hearts over him.

On one hand he was flattered that such a remarkable girl was so smitten with him. Yet he couldn't help but be majorly uncomfortable to learn that his face adorned so much of her wall. 'It's even worse to learn this way...' A mixture of guilt and discomfort assaulted the blond as his eyes scanned the pictures.

Marinette had allowed Chat Blanc into her home, but she had no idea that her crush would learn of said crush. It would be unbelievably hard to act normal around her, because from now on whenever he saw her he would have the knowledge that his face was adorned on her wall.

Marinette was confused at what had caused Chat Blanc to pause. Looking at him she quirked an eyebrow, wondering if he was okay. Following her gaze Marinette felt her breath hitch as she screamed so internally loud that she was certain her neighbors could hear her. 'Oh my god, I forgot about the pictures of Adrien! Chat Blanc is going to never let me live this down!' She yelled at herself, already predicting the amount of teasing she would receive for this.

Clearing her throat Marinette struggled to compose herself. "So...uh. You saw that, huh?" At the blond's awkward nod a hollowed laugh escaped her. "Pretty pathetic huh? Teenage girl pining over a famous model?" Marinette swallowed nervously, waiting for Chat to make fun of her.

He didn't want to be mean. "I wouldn't call it pathetic..." He trailed off, unsure of how to handle this situation. On the inside Adrien was dismayed at this recent turn of events. Not only had he discovered the source of her discomfort with Adrien, but the easy atmosphere between them had been lost. Whether it'd return ever again was up in the air.

She didn't say anything, prompting Chat Blanc to break the silence again. "S-so what is it about him that you like?" He questioned, forcing a smile. "Is it the luscious locks? The perfect smile? The dreamy eyes?" Adrien felt sick at the descriptions of himself, but he needed to distance Chat Blanc with his civilian self.

He hated those descriptions, those were words people used to describe his appearance. And they were all fake. Sure Adrien's appearance was one-hundred percent natural, but the way he presented himself was not. When he smiled for the camera he was not truly smiling, he never smiled genuinely for the camera. Whatever image Marinette had crafted of him in her head simply did not exist.

Licking her dry lips Marinette frowned, bothered by Chat's description of her crush. "His kindness..." She answered in easily the meekest voice he had ever heard. "The day we met I actually hated him at first." The dark haired girl explained while looking away from Chat. "Initially I thought he was a spoiled rich kid, just like Chloe." Marinette's face scrounged up at the mention of the blonde girl. "And I treated him horribly at first. But then..." Her eyes became glazed as she recalled. "He proved me wrong."

Adrien stood there gaping. He did not know how to respond to such an honestly lovelorn look. "Wh-what did he do?" The blond questioned despite having a decent idea as to where the story heading. 'The day in the rain...' He remembered it well enough.

At the time he had just wanted to let her know the truth. He wanted friends, he didn't want her to be mad at him, so he had decided to be honest and open. Who would have known that would have been the cause of her developing feelings for him. As she finished her story Adrien was mentally berating himself for not noticing her apparent feelings sooner, and that it had taken him entering her room under a mask to find out.

'I should have realized sooner!' He inwardly yelled at himself for being so stupidly oblivious. The stuttering flustered appearance of Marinette had become so commonplace to him that it was almost like that fiery girl he'd met on the first day had never existed.

Initially he had assumed that she was still sore over the gum incident, but as time went on that theory was debunked considered how often she tried to approach him with kind intentions. Then he had assumed that she was intimidated by who his father was. Marinette was an aspiring fashion designer. His theory hadn't been too farfetched of a reason for the way she acted around him. Only now that Adrien knew the truth did he realize his error.

Marinette was fidgeting under his gaze as she waited for Chat to respond. The thing was he didn't know how he should react to this knowledge. In a way Adrien could admit some relief that Marinette's infatuation didn't stem from being a fan of him. And he wished that he could find away to make her more comfortable around him. He wasn't looking for romance at the moment, but he knew that he would like to have someone as amazing as Marinette in his life.

"Go ahead." The dark haired girl grumbled as he persisted in his silence.

Adrien's expression became genuinely confused. "Go ahead, what?" He asked seriously not knowing what she was talking about.

Her expression became sour. "Aren't you going to make fun of me? Tease me like everyone else does about my celebrity crush on supermodel Adrien Agreste?" Adrien's eyes widened at that.

Seeing the timid look on her face gave Adrien pause. Looking away he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I would never do that." He responded honestly. Adrien didn't like seeing that look of disbelief on her pretty face.

"I find that hard to believe, go ahead, get it out of the way." She said, mentally steeling herself, with crossed arms.

Adrien offered a weak chuckle as he rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "Honestly, I wouldn't. I wouldn't make fun of someone for how they feel." Frowning he gave her a mock hurt look. "I mean what kind of cat do you take me for?" He asked good naturedly. Marinette didn't respond verbally, but after a few moments of silence she did let slip a small appreciative smile. Chat Blanc echoed her smile as an idea came to him.

Slipping up to her his grin became sly. "You told me your embarrassing secret, wanna hear an embarrassing secret of mine?" He asked. At her curious expression he held his hand up and placed his mouth near her ear. "When I was a kid I use to have a crush on the pink power ranger."

The shaking of her shoulders were what preset her quiet giggles. After a few seconds she allowed her self to start laughing. "Really?" She asked between giggles.

Adrien scoffed in false offense. "Hey don't judge, the pink ranger was hot." He said, turning his nose up.

Marinette chuckled under her breath before smirking. "Which one?"

And just like that the easy atmosphere had returned.

* * *

Eventually their joking morphed into light conversation, most of their topics ranged from anime to video games, even subjects regarding fashion came up. Marinette was surprised to find that this dorky cat actually had some knowledge of the fashion industry.

During their conversation Adrien had found himself seated in her desk chair. "So I heard from the grape vine that a certain Princess won a hat designing competition." Chat said with a sly smile.

The dark haired girl raised an eyebrow from her spot on her chaise. "Where'd you here that from? Keeping tabs on me now minou? Should I be keeping my curtains closed while I sleep?"

Adrien made a show of looking affronted by her latest remark. "I would never, I'll have you know that I'm a gentleman."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "The jury's out on that."

Chat sighed. "And here I just wanted to say congrats, such a lack of appurrciation."

Marinette rolled her eyes before patting the cat gently on the head. "There, there minou, someone will appreciate your lack of humor one of these days." Chat looked at her with false annoyance for a second before his lips slipped into a grin.

"So are you excited that Adrien will be wearing one of your designs?"

She turned an interesting shade of red at the mention of her crush, Chat Blanc mentally winced as he remembered her admission of her feelings for his other self. . "It's very rewarding," Marinette told him. "This will be the second thing I've made that he's worn."

That sentence confused the blond hero. 'Second?' Chat Blanc couldn't remember ever wearing something made by Marinette. 'Not that I wouldn't mind wearing something made by her. But when did I ever wear something she made?' If she had made him something he would have remembered.

The twin tailed girl suddenly looked sheepish as though she realized something. "Well uh...he doesn't realize it, but he's actually worn a scarf I made."

That still didn't tell Adrien what he wanted to know. 'When?' He wondered as he tried to recall ever being presented with a scarf from Marinette. "Really?" He asked doing a reasonably well job at hiding his thoughts.

Her ears became pink. "I actually made it for him on his birthday." She admitted with a wistful sigh before continuing. "I don't know how it happened, but for some reason he thinks it was a gift from his father." Marinette's frowned as she looked away. "I could have sworn I signed the card..." She muttered.

Another thing Adrien realized that he should not have learned under such a situation. His birthday hadn't been a very good one, in fact the highlight of the day was receiving a gift from his father, that was never talked about again. 'Only now I know that it wasn't from him, Marinette made it.' A part of Adrien couldn't help but be appalled that he hadn't known the true owner of the gift, he felt like an awful friend for ignoring Marinette. Another part of him couldn't help but be hurt at learning that his father hadn't gotten him a present for his birthday.

Adrien inwardly frowned as he recalled receiving the gift. Nathalie had presented it to him, which left only two options as to why the true maker hadn't been known. Either his father had stolen Marinette's gift as his own to present or Nathalie, having not gotten Adrien something on his father's behalf, had done so in his father's stead to keep from being reprimanded. Regardless that didn't matter at the moment, what did matter was Marinette.

Adrien let out a shaky breath. "Why didn't you tell him it was from you?" The blond hero was truly curious as to why she'd keep quiet. He wished she had spoken up about it, he couldn't help but feel bad for ignoring her.

Marinette, having been lost in her own thoughts looked up. "I couldn't do that..." Pursing her lips she met his stare. "He looked so happy, thinking it was from his father." The blonde couldn't help but feel that, that look of forlorn should have been illegal, if only because of the sinking feeling it made in his stomach. "I didn't want to ruin that for him."

At the unrestrained affection in her voice Adrien felt his heart flutter. 'Why is it that I never get to see this Marinette?' The blond wondered in amazement, again wishing that he and Marinette were better friends. "I see." He said awkwardly.

Clearing his throat Adrien berated himself. 'Come on, Agreste she deserves better than that from you.' Nodding he spoke again. "Well, that's very sweet." And it was, despite his mental turmoil Adrien was truly touched to know that the scarf he had liked so much had been made by her.

Marinette smiled lightly. "You said you wouldn't tease me." Though her tone wasn't angry.

Chat Blanc sat up straighter, quick to assure that he was not. "I'm not, that's very sweet. I doubt many others would have done the same as you did. Putting his happiness over the chance of him noticing you...A lot girls would jump at the chance." He told her, his opinion of his pigtailed classmate growing while his opinion of himself lowered.

How could he keep sitting her and pretending? This girl in front of him cared so much for him yet he didn't pay her much mind. Granted he had tried shortly after his apology to her, but as she kept ducking and weaving from him he had assumed that she didn't want much to do with him. Only now did he know what was really going on. 'You're an idiot, Agreste...' He inwardly frowned at his own insult.

"Oh wow, it's already one in the morning." Marinette's words brought him out of his thoughts. Looking over at her clock he saw that it was indeed getting late. "I should really get to bed." Marinette muttered with a resigned sigh as she knew that she'd oversleep if she didn't turn in now.

Chat Blanc nodded as he stood up from his seat. "Well in that case I best leave." He said simply before making for the roof. "Goodnight Marinette." He told her before exiting her room.

Undoing her pigtails Marinette closed the door behind him. 'I really got to stop staying up so late.' Although for once it wasn't due to trying to finish a project. 'I have a stray cat to blame for that.' Despite her thoughts Marinette wasn't too affronted by losing sleep to talk to the white feline. He was pretty easy to talk with, and he was funny...in his own unintentional way.

* * *

Adrien closed his window after returning home. Dropping his transformation he silently walked over to his bed and plopped down with an exhausted sigh. Above him Tigga floated, mild concern played on her face as she observed the boy. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked in a nurturing tone.

Adrien's tired frown deepened. "Not really." He muttered quietly, closing his eyes.

"You seem upset, I think talking about this might make you feel better." The white kwami told him knowingly.

The blond exhaled before opening his eyes and picking himself up to look at the tiny cat. "Tigga, Marinette likes me..." He said while folding his knees beneath him. "That girl genuinely likes me." Maybe even loved him but he didn't want to go that far, or else it'd be even harder to play oblivious.

Tigga gave the boy a sympathetic look as she landed onto his palm. "Yes, yes she does. But there's nothing wrong with that. That girl is very sweet, and you care about her."

The blonde couldn't help but stall at how true Tigga's words rang. He did care about Marinette, a lot more than he had realized. 'When did that happen?' Now that he thought about it as Chat Blanc he had seen a lot of Marinette.

When he had been akumatized she had been his hostage, he had visited her balcony on a whim one night, and he had saved her from akumas a few times. In between all of that they had talked, they had laughed, and joked. They had simply enjoyed each other's company.

It was almost like becoming Chat Blanc had turned them into magnets, they kept coming together one way or another. "Heh, I guess we finally did sort of become friends." It only required him donning a pair cat ears. "If only she could talk to me as Adrien." He gave a rueful chuckle.

Tigga nodded in agreement. Over the last couple of weeks she had much time to watch Adrien, his most notable relationships seemed to be with the boy he sat next to, Nino, and Marinette. Of course he had a professional relationship with Coccinelle and Black Cat, but they only saw each other during patrols and akuma attacks.

"Maybe try acting a little more like yourself around her? Show her that you're not the perfect model everyone thinks you are." Tigga advised.

Adrien's lips parted as he considered his kwami's words. Shaking his head he sighed. "I can't do that, if I were to start acting like Chat Blanc around her she'd learn my identity." And then she'd be angry at him for deceiving her and learning her secret.

Tigga crossed her arms as she floated back up into the air. "I didn't say act like Chat Blanc, I said be yourself. Be honest and open with her, talk to her about your interest, tell a joke you think is funny, be real with her." She implored.

The blond model gave a wry sigh. "You make it sound so simple, Tigga."

The white cat kwami smiled in response. "That's because it is simple, Adrien. The reason why Chat Blanc and Marinette became friends is because you allowed yourself to be real with her. For a moment you managed to pierce the walls that keep both of you protected, allowing for a connection. Sure as Chat you flirt with her, but the flirting is just a dynamic you guys have, its not what made you guys friends. It's your honesty."

He smiled tiredly. "Didn't realize you were such a sap." He teased the kwami who rolled her eyes. "Thanks though,"

Tigga allowed a small grin of her own. "Anytime kit." She said before flying over to Adrien's desk where an unopened can of tuna sat awaiting her.

* * *

The next akuma attack further changed Adrien's view on Marinette, the day had started out fairly uneventful. He had an early morning shoot but had managed to get through it quick enough. He ended up joining his classmates who had all agreed to meet at the Trocadero to watch Alix and Kim race.

Not long after Adrien arrived a red faced Marinette, a rolled up banner in hand, showed up. Judging by her gasp for air he could assume that she had sprint all the way here. "You okay?" He asked the dark haired girl as she came in ear shot.

Marinette, forgetting her exhaustion, seemed to clam up. Swallowing a nervous breath she tried and failed to speak normally. "Of course fine I am." Marinette flinched, as did Adrien, at her stutter. "I mean you're fine!" Adrien gaped at her before nervously averting his eyes. Marinette internally begged for the heavens to strike her down at his reaction. "I'm fine..." She muttered the last bit quietly.

From the background Alya offered a sympathetic wince for her best friend as Rose and Juleka accepted the banner from the out of breath Marinette. As the two girls unrolled it the last of the class awed in sight of it, paying compliments to the twin tailed girl's artistic talent. Although her attention was still focused on Adrien who was looking at her with an indescribable expression.

Adrien was officially labeling himself an idiot. Now that he knew Marinette's true feelings it was so obvious as to why she was so nervous around him. Of course though that didn't make it any easier to communicate with her, if anything it actually made it more difficult. "You sure?" He asked, politely ignoring her mess up for both their sakes.

Marinette smiled sheepishly. "I'm okay." She reiterated. "I all the way ran here..." Marinette grumbled under her breath. Something about her mouth not wanting to work properly.

"You ran all the way here?" For once he had been paying close attention to the word vomit she had given him. At her hesitant nod plus the thankful look in her eye he smiled lightly.

Marinette averted her gaze while fiddling with the hem of her blazer. Alix had just shown up and was currently trashing talking with Kim. "I'll have to run back soon." She said very slowly with a side way glance to Adrien. At Adrien's questioning expression she elaborated. "A cake...I have be to- have to be at the bakery." While she did end up stumbling on her words as per usual Marinette did give herself a mental pat on the back that she had actually managed a coherent sentence with Adrien.

The two awkward teens turned their attention to Max who was currently explaining the rules. Should Kim win Alix would be forced to relinquish her roller blades. "If Alix emerges victorious then Kim will be unable to issue a dare for the rest of the school year."

"We're done with all your dares!" Juleka called out as the rest of the class echoed her sentiment.

The participants were set and ready to begin the mad dash. "Hold it!" The pink haired girl abruptly cried out just before Max could start the race. Skating over to Alya who had her phone out to record the race she stopped. Pulling out an expensive-looking pocket watch she handed it over to the red head. "Hold this." The girl said without giving her a chance to protest.

"Wait, I can-" Alya was interrupted as the smaller girl ordered her to guard it with her life. Seeing as she wasn't going to get out of this the glasses wearing girl turned to her best friend who was now holding up the banner with Nino. "Here, Marinette. You hold on to this. I'm recording." She tossed the watch to her before lifting her phone back up.

Wide eyed Marinette looked at her friend in surprise as she felt Nino lifting the banner up. "B-but she asked you to hold onto it." She said as the race started. "I'm holding up the banner." Suddenly a slight jerked caused the watch to fall out of her hand.

The blue haired girl watched as the watch made it's descent, as if in slow motion. Thankfully a familiar hand caught it just in time. Adrien Agreste offered her a friendly smile. "Need some help?" He questioned rhetorically friendly smile still in place.

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. "Yep, thanks. Gotta be careful, even if you are amazing." Adrien gaped at her as the dark haired girl realized what had just fallen out of her mouth. "I uh mean at holding things!" She said, panicked before deciding not to say anything more.

Adrien stood to silently before rubbing his the back of his neck. He could swear that he heard Tigga sighing from his pocket. Glancing over at Marinette he noticed her best friend poking fun at her for her latest flub up. 'This is awkward...' He thought with an inward sigh.

"What's that there?" Chloe, taking advantage of his distractedness, asked as she plucked the watch from his hands.

"H-hey! That belongs to Alix." Green eyes widened in worry.

Chloe continued to admire the small watch. "Well if it belongs to her than it's probably worthless." She commented uncaringly.

Turning her attention away from Alya's teasing Marinette caught sight of Chloe's latest antics. Glaring Marinette addressed the spoiled blonde. "Give that back to Adrien, Chloe." Her earlier embarrassment forgotten as the spark that Chat Blanc had become familiar with appeared.

Ignoring the dark haired girl Chloe continued to fiddle with the watch before finally opening it, causing an unexpected hologram to fly out.

The events that transpired were most unfortunate, surprised by the effect Chloe's grip on the watch faltered and it made its descent to the ground. The group watched with horrified expressions as it rolled onto the track, only to be squashed by Alix's roller blades.

Despite the group's apologies coupled with Chloe's harsh attitude, Alix was not very forgiving. Adrien watched the retreating from of a concerned Marinette chasing after the angry pink haired tomboy. His jaw tightened, and with a light push from inside his pocket Adrien went after the dark haired girl.

As he caught up with the two he could hear Marinette's offers to try and fix the watch followed by Alix's rage filled response. Whatever his dark haired classmate was about to say was cut off as her cell phone rung. Stopping besides her he glanced at the slowly becoming stressed girl as she begun talking to her dad who he could barely hear, something about a cake.

Adrien gasped in shock as he saw a black butterfly fluttering after Alix. "Marinette." He called out to the girl next to him who turned her attention to him before looking to see their short classmate mid transformation. Her eyes widened in terror. "Run." He said before grabbing her wrist and leading her away from Timebreaker.

* * *

Hidden Adrien glanced out, watching Timebreaker chasing down her friends. Every time she touched them they'd freeze. "I'm going to just guess that she's not playing freeze tag." He growled under his breath as there was still no sign of Coccinelle or Black Cat. "I might have to handle this on my own." He muttered in frustration at the current situation. As he moved to step out the blond was surprised to feel Marinette grasping the back of his shirt before yanking back to cover.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Her eyes were wide with fear. "If you go out there you'll end up like the others!" The twin tailed girl hissed. This was probably the first time she had been able to speak to Adrien without her stutter since the day she met him.

Adrien looked down at the spitfire of a girl he knew as Chat Blanc. "I can't just stand here and do nothing. I have to stop her." He said with a strange determination that Marinette had never seen.

She had no idea where her crush had gotten that notion into his head, but she wasn't about to let him throw his life away. "What can you hope to accomplish?! Just wait for Chat Blanc, Coccinelle, and Black Cat!" She ordered in a harsh whisper.

It was at that moment that Adrien realized that she wasn't going to let him go. There was nothing Adrien could do to get her to let him go. But the same couldn't be said for Chat Blanc. Frowning he made a snap decision that he knew he knew he would regret. "I'm already here, Princess." Marinette's confused expression was swiftly replaced with horror. "Tigga, Fangs Bared!"

His body was gave way to white light and in Adrien's place stood Chat Blanc. Taking her hand her brought her knuckles to his lips. "Furgive meow Purrincess, but I've got a butterfly to catch." He turned away from her to face the akuma who had already gotten half of their classmates. Sparing a glance at his friend he saw that her horrified expression had not changed. Ears flattening Adrien tried not to let her reaction get to him. "I'm sorry. Stay safe Marinette." He whispered before jumping out of hiding.

Knocked out of her stupor Marinette ran to the edge of cover just in time to see Chat Blanc intervene on time to save Nino from being tagged. 'Adrien is Chat Blanc...Chat Blanc knows I'm in love with Adrien...Chat Blanc is Adrien.' Cue the not working sign.

* * *

Nino gritted his teeth as he prepared to be frozen. Suddenly a familiar white blur appeared, blocking Timebreaker with his rapier. 'Adrien nice save, bro!' He thought thankfully at his friends brilliant rescue. "Thanks, dude!" The dark skinned teen said as he ran away to find cover and transform.

Chat smirked as his friend ran to safety, but did not take his eyes off of Timebreaker. "So time traveling's your thing, huh? Why rollerblades though? Purrsonally I'd have chosen a Delorean." He said, referencing Back to the Future.

The akumatized Alix scoffed at his lame joke. "Do you have any idea how much a car cost? I'd rather just stick with my roller blades." She said before darting forward to touch the white feline.

Adrien kept his cocky smirk as he parried the akuma's attack. Sliding to the side he whacked her with his rapier. "Come on meow, surely you can do better than chat?" His eyes danced in amusement at her annoyed expression.

Marinette continued to watch from her hiding spot, worry etched onto her face as Adrien/Chat Blanc squared off with Timebreaker. Despite the tsunami of emotions within her, embarrassment at Adrien learning a number of personal things she wanted to keep secret, the fact that he had flirted with her... It was at that point that Marinette decided to stop the train wreck that was her line of thought.

She breathed out a sign of relief as a long metal pole came out of nowhere and tripped Timebreaker over. Black Cat grinned as he sauntered up, twirling his baton. "Now, now, don't be tripping." He grinned to the blonde who cackled.

'I'm so proud of him!' Adrien thought to himself regarding his feline teammate. Turning his attention back to the akuma he gave a cocky grin. "Are you ready to give up yet?"

Timebreaker growled in frustration before getting back up. "You might have me outnumbered but all I have to do is capture one of you." She said as Coccinelle made her appearance, yoyo twirling behind her.

Chat Blanc and Black Cat both rushed her she easily avoided the baton strike and landed a round house kick to the white cat's face causing him to stumble back. As she was about to press her palm to his chest she was disappointed to find him flying away as Coccinelle's yoyo yanked the white feline away from her.

"Eyes on me!" Black Cat said as he launched a kick that Timebreaker just barely managed to block. As she reached out to grab him the dark skinned hero darted out of her reach, baton extending to hit her in the gut, putting some much needed distance between her and him. "Coccinelle, now might be a good time!" He called out.

The red haired girl nodded, shooting her yoyo into the air she shouted. "Lucky Charm!" And out popped a red black spotted rope. "Okay..." She said looking down at the rope before glancing around to see if anything would give her an idea of how to use it. Looking at the two cat themed heroes Alya thought up a plan, and she thought it up fast. "Cat, catch!" She said before tossing the rope over to him.

Nino met his girlfriend's gaze a silent exchange happening. Nodding he turned to Chat Blanc who was just barely staying out of Timebreaker's reach. All the while taunting and baiting her. "Come on now, I know you're quicker than that." The yellow eyed feline said after just narrowly avoiding her grab.

Just as she was about to make another pass for him she felt something latch to her arm. Looking she saw that it was Coccinelle's yoyo string. Letting out a breath of annoyance she turned away from the white cat and quickly started skating around the area. Increasing her speed she tried to make the now flying heroine bash into something like a tree.

Predicting where she was going to be heading the two cat heroes quickly set, staying low they pulled the red/black string taunt, and waited. Sadly they're plan did not quite go to as they had hoped. Timebreaker had seen them, she saw the rope that would trip her up, their plan would fail. Stopping on a dime she turned to see Coccinelle flying towards her, unable to stop. With a vicious grin she reached out and grabbed the surprised heroine just before she flew into her.

Nino felt his breath stop as he watched the events play out in slow motion. Seeing his girlfriend frozen mid air, her body slowly fading out of existence was too much. "Coccinelle!" Yelling in pure rage he dropped the rope and charged after Timebreaker, baton extending. Jumping in the air he swung down hard, Time breaker easily dodged his rage filled attack.

Landing he saw the akuma racing towards him, jumping over her he kicked her in the back before turning around to pursue her. Letting loose a series of punches Nino realized his folly when it was too late, throwing a stray punch too far that he couldn't recover gave Timebreaker the perfect opportunity to grab his wrist.

"Perfect! More then enough time to go back!" The pink haired girl shouted victoriously before pausing as she heard Papillon's order to grab the frozen heroes miraculous before they disappeared. Reaching for Black Cat's ring she was stopped as a red black spotted rope found itself tied to her wrist.

"I don't think so!" The remaining hero said before yanking the rope, pulling her towards him. Ramming his foot into her stomach Chat Blanc raised his rapier, ready to continue the fight alone.

Timebreaker snarled, "Once I get rid of you I'll go back to the past. Then I'll be sure to make sure that my watch doesn't break, maybe I'll even get rid of Chloe for good measure!" She said with a malicious laugh before racing towards Chat.

Adrien avoided her first attempt at grabbing him, side stepping he smacked her in the shoulder with his sword before landing a kick to her side. Stepping back he waited for his opponent to act, from what he had seen the best way to combat this akuma was to react to her. Counter attacks seemed to be the most effective.

The fighting went on for a few more minutes, Timebreaker would make a grab for the white feline only for him to counter and deny her. Unfortunately Chat's luck would run out, his foot landing on the broken remains of Alix's watch as he stepped back caused him to stumble.

Timebreaker growled as she reached forward to grab him. "Enough is enough, I've got you!" She cried out before her hand pressed against the brown material of Marinette's jacket.

"Adri-!" The blonde in question watched in stunned silence as her body froze. Her face set in a desperate, determined expression.

She had pushed him out of the way. 'Marinette!' Chat felt his stomach drop as she remained frozen above him.

Timebreaker growled in frustration as she was about to go after Chat again but was stopped by her master. Looking over to where Coccinelle had been she saw that the spotted hero was already gone, and Black Cat faded away completely just after she caught sight of him. Grumbling under her breath she conceded to Papillon's orders.

"Marinette...why?" Adrien muttered as he watched her slowly start to fade away. 'I'm so sorry...' He gently placed a clawed hand onto her shoulder. Of course there was no reaction. Anger filled him, why did she do it? Damn it he was supposed to keep her safe! Not the other way around!

Teeth clenching he stood up, looking over at the akuma he saw that she was skating away. 'You're going to pay for this!' He mentally snarled, running after her. Grabbing the rope that he and Black Cat had been using he threw it after the time based villain.

Latching around her ankle it did little in slowing her down as a bright light started to envelope her. Chat cried out in surprise as he was dragged through the light.

* * *

Landing on his stomach Chat breathed out before picking himself up and ran over to observe his surroundings. "What in the?" From down below he could see the race from earlier going on. He gaped as he took in his classmates, all still alive. 'Marinette!' His eyes caught the dark haired girl who was shyly stealing glances at his past self. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief, she was okay, they all were okay. Narrowing his eyes the blond steeled himself for the upcoming trial, he had been given a second chance and he knew not to waste it.

Turning his attention to the villain Chat gasped before shouting out to the group. "Chloe don't break the watch!" His shout had a profound effect, the group of spectators turned their attention up to see Chat Blanc before looking ahead at the villain who had just landed in front of them.

Chloe gasped in shock, dropping and breaking the watch. Timebreaker shouted in horror as she watched it break for a second time. Gritting her teeth she turned to look at the white feline. "This is all your fault, Chat Blanc!" She cried out before looking back at the group. "I need more energy, gotta go back further." She muttered as the group of teens broke away and ran for their lives.

Alix from the past slowly rolled up to the broken remains of the watch her father had given her. Dropping to her knees she mourned the loss of her present. "This is all Chat Blanc's fault!" She echoed her future self's words.

Chat Blanc was about to hop into action but was stopped by a familiar voice. "Who the hell are you?!" He looked over to see his past self approaching him.

Frowning he sighed before deciding to explain the situation. "This is crazy, but I'm you from the future."

Adrien's eyes widened as his kwami flew out to examine his supposed future self. "Seriously, the future?" He asked in disbelief.

Chat Blanc nodded. "A few minutes into the future to be exact. And things did not go well. That akuma down there made all of our friends disappear, including Marinette, Coccinelle, and Black Cat." Past Adrien gaped at him in shock. "But we can prevent it. Get Marinette out of here, she died trying to save me. She can't be anywhere near here, take her home." The white feline ordered his past self.

Past Adrien's face paled at the sound of someone dying for him. "Wh-why would she save me?" He questioned looking down at the fleeing pedestrians.

"She found out who we are. Don't worry about it, we can prevent everything from happening. But we need to work together." He told his younger counter part.

Adrien met his future self's gaze before nodding, determination feeling his being he transformed and quickly went to find Marinette.

The white clad hero sighed tiredly as he watched his past self go to protect Marinette. "Man, after this I'm going to need a vacation." Chat Blanc muttered as he hopped down to face the two akumas. "Catastic, now I'm seeing double." He muttered as two figures showed up beside him.

Coccinelle and Black Cat looked at the twin akumas in shock. "Two akumas at once?!" Coccinelle said in shock. Her yoyo was out and whirling behind her.

"That's not right, dude!" Black Cat claimed before pulling his baton out.

Drawing his rapier Chat Blanc fixed the two akumas with a glare. "Whatever you guys do, don't let them touch you." He calmly told the two as he took an aggressive stance before rushing forward. The two nodded, trusting their teammate's warning without question.

* * *

Marinette cried out in surprise as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her body and lift her off the ground. "Bonjour Purrincess." Chat Blanc purred in greeting her as he whisked her towards her bakery.

It didn't take her long to get over her shock, recovering she fixed the white feline an odd look. "Chat Blanc, what are you doing? Shouldn't you be fighting the akuma?" The dark haired girl questioned.

The white feline grinned. "Well when you're as clawsome as meow you learn how to be in two places at once." He said, not explaining his joke.

Marinette had no idea what he was referring to but couldn't help but smile as they neared her home. Upon landing Chat Blanc sat her down with a certain tenderness. "You're such a show off." Walking away from him Marinette turned around to face him. "But regardless of that, the heroics are always appreciated." She said while smoothing out the wrinkles on her clothes.

Adrien smiled at the dark haired girl, the very one who saved him in the future at the cost of herself. Grabbing her wrist he brought the back of her hand to his lips, placing a tender kiss on it he smirked. "No thank you Purrincess. I'd love to stay and relish in your basking purrsence, but duty calls. Stay safe My Dear." He said before departing from the embarrassed girl.

When he returned he noticed that the three were still struggling with the two akumas. Just before one of the akumas could catch Black Cat he intervined, landing a well placed kick to one of the Timebreaker's head.

Black Cat looked up at his savor only to gape in surprise before looking at him and the Chat Blanc helping Coccinelle. "T-two Chat Blancs?" He sputtered. "Seriously?"

Adrien smirked at his teammate. "Careful, I might make it eighteen Chat Blancs." In fact. Looking over to his counterpart he shouted out. "Hey future me, I think we could use a little more man power!"

Future Chat looked up at his past self, catching his meaning he smirked. "Oh this is going to be clawsome."  
He couldn't be faulted for his excitement, this was a once in a life time deal after all.

Raising their swords up the pair of Chats exclaimed in unison. "Nine Lives!" They called out before being enveloped in a glow.

The numerous Chats proved to be very effective against the two akumas. Giving Coccinelle time to summon her lucky charm. Summoning a cone she looked down at it, wondering what to do with it. Glancing around she received the answer from her surroundings. "I got it!" She claimed before going to work.

Using the lucky charm that Chat had brought from the future one of his many clones quickly tied the two akuma's feet together, causing them to lose control as Coccinelle created a makeshift ramp with a loose board and her cone.

As the two villains went up into the air a pair of Chat Blancs jumped into the air, grabbing the identical pair of skates and destroying them. With a flick of her wrist Coccinelle captured both butterflies and purified them. "Goodbye little butterflies." She said as the pair of white butterflies fluttered away.

With the usual swarm of ladybugs all the damage from the fight was fixed, and the future Chat and Timebreaker were swept away leaving only one of them. Coccinelle and Black Cat preformed their customary high five before being forced to flee due to a pair of beeping earrings.

* * *

Marinette wasn't too surprised at Chat Blanc's visit later that night. It had become almost expected to receive a visit after being rescued by him. "Good evening, Princess." The blonde greeted, charming smile in place as he gave a slight bow.

Marinette returned the greeting with a small smile. "Chat Blanc, a pleasure as always." She said somewhat teasingly.

The white feline smirked as he grasped her hand. "The pleasure is all mine." He told her before placing a soft kiss on the back of it.

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up ever so slightly before slipping her hand out of his grasp. "Keep dreaming, minou." The dark haired girl was slowly becoming accustomed to his shameless flirting. While she didn't take his flirts seriously a small part of her couldn't help but appreciate it. Even if her heart did belong to Adrien it was nice to have an admittedly attractive boy say such sweet things.

Yellow eyes twinkled as he spoke. "Only every night," He joked before allowing his expression to become serious. "I actually came here tonight because I had something important I needed to say." He informed her, hiding the nervousness he felt.

At his more serious tone the twin tailed girl stood straighter. "I'm all ears." In the admittedly short time she had known him Marinette had learned that Chat was almost always all jokes and smiles. However when he did get serious she knew that he deserved her undivided attention.

Adrien gave a thankful hum. "Today's akuma was time travel based." He explained thinking back to what his future self had told him. "A version of myself from the future came to help us, according to him Coccinelle and Black Cat had been defeated. I would have joined them too but you saved me, by taking the hit." The blonde admitted as a surge of emotions went through him. "I know that technically you didn't do it, but it was still Marinette who saved Chat Blanc, so thank you." Marinette found his awkward embarrassment endearing.

On one hand the thought of Marinette getting hurt on his account horrified him, but the fact that she would risk her life for him made his heart flutter. He didn't think he had anyone who would care enough about him, Chat Blanc or Adrien, who would be willing to risk themselves for him. His mother maybe, but then again she had disappeared.

Marinette found herself being floored by his admission. The idea that she would risk her life for one of Paris' heroes was astronomical. She didn't think she would have to considering the amount of punishment they could take. Marinette's lips parted as she looked at the suddenly bashful white cat, a feeling of affection tugged at her heart for him.

She cared about him, somehow in the brief moments they had spent in each other's presence they had clicked. 'Are we friends?' She couldn't help but wonder. The dark haired girl found herself hoping that Chat would answer positively to that. He was fun to talk to, and he seemed to really care about her.

Feeling that the silence had stretched on for too long she spoke up. "Y-you're welcome." Chat's smile made her feel an emotion that she could not quite place but found that she didn't want to. "We're friends, right?" She asked with more confidence than she felt.

Adrien was positively glowing at her words, friends. He was finally friends with Marinette, they had finally reached that stage where they could happily say that. "Of course." He felt like he was on top of the world at hearing her define them as friends.

The blonde decided not to let the fact that she was friends with Chat Blanc bother him. Logically he knew tomorrow she would be her usual flustered self around Adrien, and in some way that would hurt because now he knew why. But damn it, he wanted to be selfish for once, he wanted to enjoy the fact that he was finally friends with this extraordinary girl.

* * *

Okay so a lot happened this chapter, a lot of development between Chat Blanc and Marinette. I hope you all enjoyed the reveal, even if it didn't stick. haha. I'll admit that the end of the fight was a bit rush, but at that point when writing it felt like it was just going on and on, and I wanted it to end. Either way hope you all enjoyed that, remember to leave feed back let me know what you liked or didn't like.

Until the next chapter.


	4. Injury

Whew boy this is a long one. Like my usual length in LatS. So anyone who's read Life at the Shinozaki's will find this long of a chapter familiar. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this, not sure how long it'll be until the next update but I'll have it as soon as I can.

* * *

The White Cat

Part Four: Injury

The following akuma attack was a fairly simple affair, though it was different than usual. The akuma, Evillustrator had been caused by Chloe publically humiliating Nathaniel about his crush on Marinette. Nathaniel was a nice boy, if not a little shy. As far as akumas went he was much more quiet and wasn't going on a rampage. His initial attack on Chloe in the school library was the extent of his terror. That and convincing Marinette to come to his birthday dinner date.

Marinette nervously paced in her room as she spoke into her phone. "I don't know what to do Alya, I don't want to go tonight but I'm afraid of what'll happen if I don't show up." The dark haired girl admitted panic clear in her voice. Normally she wouldn't have a problem being around Nathaniel, while she didn't reciprocate his crush on her she did think him a sweet boy and good friend. However as an akuma who knew what he was capable of?

Alya sucked in a deep breath before exhaling. "That's not good girl, you shouldn't have agreed to go out with him. Akumas are unpredictable, if you don't show up you could become a target of his anger." The red head was worried for her best friend's safety and was already forming the beginnings of a plan to take down Evillustrator. 'I don't like the idea of having Mari too close to the action.' Nino's eyes followed her as she frantically walked back and forth in his room. 'But there's not much of a choice.'

"I know, I know. But I panicked, I was afraid of him going after Chloe again." Despite the antagonistic relationship between her and the spoiled girl, Marinette didn't want Chloe to be a victim of violence. "Also what if rejecting him had made him snap right then and there?" She asked before throwing her hands up in frustration. "Ugh I don't know what to do." The half Asian girl complained before flopping down on her bed.

The conversation carried on for a little bit longer before both girls hung up, citing that they each should be working on their group projects. Pressing the end call button on her phone Alya glanced to Nino. "You got a plan?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow as Plagg floated lazily next to him.

Nodding Alya frowned before explaining what she had decided. Marinette would go on her date, but all three of them, her, Nino, and Adrien would be hiding in the shadows, waiting to strike. "I'll handle restraining the akuma when the time comes, and you'll swoop in and break the item so I can purify the butterfly." Alya explained, the plan was simple but there was always the possibility of things going wrong. "Adrien will guaranteed Marinette's safety, the moment Evillustrator realizes that he's been had, he'll need to be the one to get her out."

That was really the most important part, ensuring Marinette's safety. The fact that a civilian, her best friend no less, was going to basically be used as bait made her dread the upcoming fight. Alya didn't care if the rest of her plan fell flat on its face, just as long as Marinette was able to get out of harms way. 'Chat Blanc is the quickest out of all of us, he'll have no trouble getting her out of there.' She assured herself.

From the rooftop over looking the back entrance of the bakery Adrien watched Marinette's exchange with Sabrina. After the orange haired girl had exploded at Marinette in unjustified fury, before stalking off he jumped down. Landing in front of her he released a sigh at the dark haired girl. "Wow, she certainly can be catty." He said with a joking wink. "I was afraid that I'd have to save you from her claws."

Marinette's initial wave of surprise was replaced with an eye roll. Crossing her arms she fixed her friend with a flat look. "Really minou, double pun? What did I do to deserve such punishment." Her eyes widened as she realized what she just said.

Chat paused before laughing. "Nice one, Purrincess. Before long you'll be punning just like me." The blonde said with a large grin, very much pleased with Marinette's unintentional pun.

Doing her best to keep from sharing Chat's large grin the dark haired girl crossed her arms before firing off her retort. "Let's hope I become mute before that day arrives." Marinette groaned dramatically yet her lips were set in a small smirk. Despite her worry over the upcoming events of tonight, seeing and joking with Chat was proving to be somewhat therapeutic.

Chat's joking expression was soon replaced with a more serious one. "Word from the grapevine is that you have a date with Papillon's latest villain of the week."

"Where did you hear that?" A dark eyebrow raised.

"I have good ears." The blonde casually informed her, pointing to the white ears resting on his head. "But no need to fear, tonight you'll have six pairs of eyes on you. Coccinelle, Black Cat, and I won't let anything happen to you. The moment we're able to, we'll purify the akuma and have you home before dinner." Adrien promised, determination swelling within him.

After being told by his future self about Marinette risking her life for him, especially after knowing who he was, Adrien was determined to return the favor and keep her safe. As a super hero he knew it was his responsibility to be that way with any civilian. However if it came down to it, even if he wasn't in suit Adrien knew that he would risk his life for this girl.

Unaware of just how far Chat Blanc was willing to go for her safety Marinette felt relief course though her. "Thanks minou, I was worried about tonight." She admitted, letting her previous anxiety fade away. "Knowing that you'll be watching actually makes me feel a lot better." She told him honestly, it was a relief to know that her heroic friend would be there, ready to save her.

Chat Blanc returned the smile before becoming serious again. "Coccinelle has a plan, if it works out we should be able to have him beat rather quickly. It relies on you though." At the slight furrow of her brow he quickly explained. "Don't worry your part is simple, all you have to do is separate him from his pen and we'll handle the rest." Marinette looked slightly uneasy at hearing that she'd have to participate in beating the akuma. She was by no means a coward, but when going against super powered villains without having powers of your own, her fear was to be expected.

Chat saw the worry on her face easily enough, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder he gave a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, Marinette. I won't let anything happen to you." He promised, his face becoming sympathetic. "If you don't think you can do it just signal me and I'll get you out." Technically this was not part of Coccinelle's plan but Chat wasn't about to let that stop him.

Marinette's safety would be his number one priority, if Coccinelle and Black Cat didn't agree with him then oh well. At his promise the blue eyed girl let out an appreciative noise before nodding. "Thank you." Chat nodded at her thankful response.

"Always happy to be of service, Princess." He said with an exaggerated bow. "If you want me to pull you out of there just say very clearly that you're getting tired and I'll swoop in no questions asked." Taking her hand he lifted it to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "Until tonight," And then he was off.

Marinette watched the white clad hero's retreating form until he was out of sight. A thankful content smile on her face. The dark haired girl flinched as she realized that she was standing there with a dreamy look on her face. Cheeks flaring in embarrassment she quickly chased away the butterflies in her stomach. In this day and age butterflies were not a good thing to be having, especially when it was the wrong boy giving them to you.

Closing the door behind her she went about mentally preparing for the upcoming night. 'Remember you like Adrien.' She told herself, doing the best to ignore the way her heart was beating after talking to her superhero friend.

* * *

That night Marinette preformed marvelously well. Despite her nervousness she managed to lull Evillustrator into a false sense of ease, and even succeeded in separating him from his pen by asking to draw something. The moment Evillustrator looked away was when she made her move, throwing the pen as far away as she could Marinette jumped to her feet about to call for Chat Blanc when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and whisk her away. "Have I ever told you how drawn I feel towards you?" The white cat asked before leaping off of the boat proper and onto a nearby building. Keeping his hold on Marinette, whose expression was a mixture of surprise and exasperated, he broke into a run.

Chat didn't need to look behind him to know that Coccinelle had already restrained the akuma while Black Cat destroyed the stylus. He just kept moving, leaping and bounding until he could see the familiar sight of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Landing at the side entrance he lowered Marinette to her feet, brushing off some imaginary dust from her shoulder he smiled. "See Princess, home early. Aren't I such a gentleman?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

Having been removed from the stressful situation of dealing with an akuma Marinette allowed her tense muscles to relax before her cheeks tinted pink. Putting some much needed distance from the blond hero she did her best to appear casual. "Yeah, I bet my parents would approve, even if you are a mangy alley cat." She told him with a teasing smile.

The blond scoffed in mock offense. "I'll have you know I am anything but mangy. I'm actually one of the cleanest cats you'll ever meet." He made sure to point out.

Marinette giggled slightly, despite the affection she shouldn't be feeling she did enjoy bantering with him. "Whatever you say, minou." She jested lightly before ruffling his messy hair.

Chat chuckled in response before giving an exaggerated bow. "Well I've returned you from the ball, safe and sound. Does the dashing knight get a kiss?" He joked while mentally hitting himself. 'What are you doing?' He asked himself as Marinette raised an eyebrow.

Marinette knew her face had to have become an interesting shade of red. Even if he was joking it was still a bit much for an admittedly cute boy to ask for a kiss. Swallowing she did her best to stay in control. "Y-you wish," Damn it, she stuttered. Adrien Agreste was supposed to be the only one who could make her stutter.

Not being deterred Chat pressed on, speaking in a low tone. "Oh, but I do." The white feline inched closer while mentally flinching as he realized that he in fact did want her to. 'Seriously what are you doing? Cut this out, abort, abort.' Adrien chastised himself. What was wrong with him tonight? He knew that Marinette liked his civilian persona, why was he flirting with her like this? 'I don't think of Marinette like that...do I?' He was having trouble answering that to himself.

The long pause he had after his latest remark gave the blue haired girl ample time to recover. Marinette crossed her arms before fixing him with a teasing smile. "I guess my white knight would deserve some sort of reward." She said appearing to be thoughtful. Chat mouth dried as he wondered if she might actually go through with his stupid request.

Before he could tell her that he was joking, which was an internal battle as a part of him did want her to go through with it, she leaned forward. Just before her lips could touch his cheek she backed off and offered a grin. "You'll just have to settle for some fresh baked goods next time you come over." The dark haired girl told him before giving the blond a small wink.

The blue haired girl was quite surprised to see the flush in his cheeks, it was actually cute to see him react that way to her teasing. Swallowing Chat recovered. "We-well nowhere near as go-good, but that'll have to do." He quickly said before turning to leave. "Ha-have a good night, Marinette!" He said before leaping into the night time sky.

Marinette watched him leave, her surprised expression still in place. 'Huh, so he can flirt no problem. But he can't handle it when someone else dishes it out...' That was so cute and also funny. Marinette's lips turned into a large grin, she couldn't wait for his next visit.

Double checking with Coccinelle and Black Cat that the akuma had indeed been dealt with the white feline decided to head home. Sneaking past the security cameras Adrien entered his bedroom his transformation dropping. "Ugh..." He groaned while flopping onto his bed.

Tonight hadn't been bad, but that parting conversation with his friend had been weird. Of course he had no one to blame for the weirdness save for himself. 'Sheesh...' He sighed as Tigga floated over to him.

"Something you want to talk about, kit?" The white feline asked before landing next to his face.

Adrien was silent for a moment before sighing again. "It's just...I don't understand." He confided to his kwami his confusion. A part of him had wanted that kiss from Marinette but another part of him didn't. He felt guilt for even asking of that from her, even if she had taken it in jest.

Tigga poked his nose slightly. "Maybe you just like her. There's nothing wrong with that, she's a cute girl and Chat Blanc's only friend."

Adrien rolled over. "Yeah she is, but it's...not right. I don't feel the same way she does, I don't even know why I keep flirting as Chat. At first it was because that was kind of our thing but now...maybe I should stop visiting her as Chat." That idea made the blonde model pause as he did not like it.

Tigga frowned at her charge's expression. "Is that what you want?" She didn't wait for Adrien to answer as she already knew what he felt. "You've tried not to let the fact that Marinette likes you be a problem, and you have managed. But I think you need to start accepting the fact that you are feeling more than just friendly feelings for her. There's no reason to lie to me, I can read your emotions better than you can."

Adrien sighed as he found that he couldn't deny it to himself. He was starting to like Marinette as more than just a friend, it was surprising just how quickly you could develop feelings for someone. "Let's say I concede to that I'm developing feelings for her, one problem." He said while lifting his head to look at Tigga. "She can't talk to Adrien. Even though I've been trying to talk to her during the day, she just clams up and gets flustered." Sure they had made progress, they could talk in a group regarding things like school work, but any personal subjects were impossible.

"I've tried all week to get her to be comfortable around me as Adrien, and so far..." The blond sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. 'At the very least Marinette's word jumble was getting less painful, but at the rate they were going they wouldn't be able to have a full blown conversation until graduation.

"Maybe try asking to hang out after school?" Tigga suggested. "More exposure to your true self wouldn't hurt her."

Adrien sighed tiredly as he considered Tigga's words. "I just don't know how to make her comfortable around me, it's like there's no proper answer." He told her before lying back down. His brow was furrowed in frustration.

Tigga frowned at his words, he was right. "There really isn't an answer, because her becoming comfortable is on her. You can keep trying to be friends with her as Adrien, but ultimately it boils down to her getting accustomed. Marinette is slowly getting use to you, just give it time."

Adrien's lips curved into a frown but he nodded in response as he knew his kwami was right. Time was all he could really give Marinette, he just wished there was something to do to make it easier for her. Closing his eyes he slowly drifted to sleep.

* * *

It was Friday evening roughly a week before winter break, exams were coming up and if the students of Francoise Dupont College knew that if they wanted to strive they would have to buckle down and crack open the books. Nino however was finding himself distracted.

"Stop it." HIs girlfriend hissed as he lightly tapped her foot.

Adrien and Marinette glanced up from their books but did not comment on the couple. Nino's lips were set into a teasing grin while Alya's eyes were narrowed. Deciding not to comment the couple's antics the two best friends returned their attention to their books.

The playful cat within Nino grinned excitedly before he tapped her foot again. "Nino, I'm warning you, stop distracting me." She threatened, though there was no real malice in her words.

It was after school just before the weekend, the four teens had decided that they would host a study session in preparation for next week. Marinette had suggested using her home for their group, the added bonus of having sweets at their disposal had been more than enough for them all to agree to come.

Nino knew it was important to study for the upcoming test. If he wanted to get into the same school as his friends he'd have to do well on test. A part of him didn't really care for the academics of school. While he did well enough he didn't excel like his best friend did, he didn't have to. His dream career didn't require he do well in school, the only thing that made all the test worth it was hanging out with his friends.

He was bored, he couldn't help but want to pass the time by teasing Alya. As he moved to tap her foot again he frowned as his toes met air, looking up at his girlfriend he saw her challenging smirk. 'So it's going to be like that, huh?' Well he wouldn't take that laying down, unless it was with her. Smirking he jutted his foot again aiming for where he was sure she had moved her foot.

The game went on, Nino would strike only for Alya to sense the movement and dodge just in time. Soon the game of cat and...bug became apparent to the other two in the room. Adrien frowned as the table would occasionally rumble at the latest blow. Sighing he looked up at his best friend. "Should we give you two some privacy?" He asked pointedly.

"No."

"If you wouldn't mind?" Nino said with a chuckle much to his girlfriend's amused annoyance. "Gah!" He grunted as Alya smacked his leg. "Babe, I like it when you're feisty." He whispered to her. Alya smirked in response before kicking him again.

After that little incident the study session continued on, Marinette inwardly praised her luck that her crush was so good at physics. And that it was slowly becoming easier to talk to him, at least when she kept her words simple and on the topic of school work. She didn't feel that she was quite prepared for casual conversation.

She still felt that casual conversation between them was too far out of her reach, so if she wanted to keep things from being awkward she'd keep the subjects on school work.

"If you just plug this number into the equation then you should get the answer." Adrien explained to his pig tailed classmate.

"I see." Marinette said as she followed his instruction, at the answer she got she quickly wrote it down while glancing at him to gauge his reaction. "I-I think I'm act-actually starting to get this." The dark haired girl mentally congratulated herself for not stuttering too badly.

Over the last few weeks it seemed that Adrien had started going out of his way to talk to her. At first she had panicked horribly, squeaking and jumbling her words even worse than ever. To her immense relief Adrien hadn't let it outwardly bothered him and had been patient, and she was actually finally able to hold something akin to a conversation with him. 'Slowly but surely...' Marinette thought to herself as she started working on the next problem.

In the back of her mind however there was a bit of a mess, a mess started by Chat Blanc. While Marinette had yet to admit to herself that she was developing an affection for the other blond in her life she couldn't help but feel conflicted. While she enjoyed the slow burn friendship she was developing with Adrien, she could admit that it didn't quite hold a candle to the moments she had shared with Chat Blanc.

With Adrien she was almost always a nervous wreck, but with Chat everything was so easy and comfortable. Sighing under her breath Marinette mentally flied thoughts of the white clad hero away for later, right now she had work to do.

Adrien sneaked a peek at the girl across from him, hiding a little smile he allowed himself to feel some joy at her progress. Ever since the Timebreaker incident he had made the effort as his normal self to talk to her. At first she had acted about as horribly as he figured she would, if not worse. But he was determined, his end goal was to get her as comfortable around him as she was with Chat.

That was still ways away off, his occasional night time visits as Chat Blanc still continued and they were able to talk about everything and nothing. Yet as Adrien they had only just barely graduated to being able to communicate about school work in the presence of friends. 'Maybe I should try punning?' He had considered before hesitating at the thought. While it could work if he tried acting like Chat it could also majorly backfire. While Marinette did get unbelievably flustered and shy around him she was a very smart girl and would have zero problems putting pieces together.

'Baby steps...' Adrien reminded himself of Tigga's words. In the weeks since she helped Chat Blanc they had already made more progress than he had thought they would, they'd get there eventually.

Sadly today's study session had to be cut short at by Adrien's cell phone, he had a Chinese lesson scheduled for this evening that was mandatory. He said goodbye to his friends and headed out to meet his driver. Not much later Nino had also left to go home for dinner while Alya stayed at Marinette's, the girls had decided to have a sleepover.

* * *

The trio of heroes didn't patrol every night, though Chat Blanc usually tried. The only time he didn't come out was if he had something scheduled late at night. Which wasn't too common, so after his evening lessons he found himself bounding from rooftop to rooftop. He knew that his crime fighting partners were not active that night. According to Coccinelle she would be staying at a friend's house, and could not risk transforming for fear of her friend finding out. And tonight wasn't Black Cat's night to patrol, so Chat was on his own.

Which was fine, as much as Adrien did like the superhero duo, he usually felt like a bit of a third wheel to them. He knew they appreciated his assistance but they didn't really talk a whole lot so he didn't really feel their absence. Besides on nights like this Adrien could get lost in his own thoughts as he ran at top speeds, maybe he'd stop by Marinette's on his way home. It had been a couple of days since he last saw her as his superhero self.

Adrien allowed himself to smile as he thought of the feisty dark haired girl. It was always nice to drop by as his alter ego, she'd fix him with a warm smile, and a snarky remark about strays frequenting her balcony. Sometimes she'd hand him a croissant as she made her quip. Then he'd grin and flirt, kiss her hand, and she would fight the pinkness in her cheeks before playfully brushing off his advances. 'If only she knew.' He could only wonder, how she'd feel if she knew the person flirting with her was her crush.

'What am I doing with this girl?' He asked himself not for the first time. A part of him still felt horrible at knowing her feelings for him, yet he still came back. 'We're friends.' He argued with himself. Yet why did he flirt so shamelessly with her as Chat? Initially it had just been good fun, flirting with a pretty girl not having to worry about it since he could hide behind a mask. But even knowing that she was smitten with his other self he still did it. Why?

It had taken much self debate but Adrien had finally been able to accept the truth. He liked her, maybe not to the extent that she liked him, but he did like her. If she did work up the courage to ask him out, he would be more than happy to date her. Or if she could get to a point where they could talk comfortably to each other as his civilian self, then he would probably ask her out himself.

As Chat Blanc he had tried to avoid talking to her about her crush, but after awhile it became unavoidable. She did consider Chat a friend, a really good friend, almost as good a friend as Alya. And she wanted to talk about the object of her affections from time to time. As his pigtailed classmate spoke about her progress or set backs regarding him, Adrien found himself smiling and laughing at her theatrics. It was kind of adorable to see someone get so excited over just being able to talk to the person they liked. Even if it was about him.

Her love really was pure, Adrien knew when someone was just interested in him for his fame. He had been approached by many girls since becoming a model. They all acted the same, like they had some claim on him yet when he didn't respond they way they wanted they became angry. If he didn't already know why Marinette liked him he'd be able to see that she wasn't like them.

Sure she was shy and got flustered like some of them, but that was about the only comparison he could draw. Marinette had made something with her own two hands for him, she always tried to include him, and in another time she had even risked her life for him. Adrien couldn't help but feel that if there was any girl worth his affection that it could be her. If only she could over come her shyness, really that was one thing he couldn't understand. Sure he was basically the poster child for perfect golden boy, but outside of the suit he wasn't anything amazing.

Tigga had told him that if he wanted to get anywhere with Marinette outside of the suit he should act more like himself. But that was difficult, because when he paid her attention Marinette would panic. The first time he invited her and Alya to have lunch with him and Nino she had loudly proclaimed "YES!" Before awkwardly fumbling with her words and shying away.

The lunch that had followed was painful as she was only able to muster ten whole words through the hour. Future attempts saw her being able to speak a little more with each outing. She was getting better, but it was a slow process, and he didn't want to risk ruining things by letting too much of his Chat show.

A cry for help broke him out of his musings. Chat frowned at realizing that he had allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts instead of patrolling. Jumping up he followed the terrified shrieks, below on the streets he saw a couple struggling with three muggers. One of them had a baseball bat, one had a metal pole in his hand, and the one holding the woman hostage had a knife to her throat.

Easy enough, he landed nearby but kept out of sight. Silently creeping up on the group he listened to the shouts and struggle. "Let her go! You can have our money!" The woman's husband/boyfriend/fiancé shouted hopelessly as one of the other's held him in place.

"Shut up!" One of the thugs shouted before smacking one of his legs with the bat. "We're going to have a little fun." The mugger said as the man cried out in pain. "So if you don't want her pretty face to be too messed up I'd suggest you keep quiet!"

Having heard enough Chat made his attack. Jumping in he kicked the guy who had been holding the woman. As the thug stepped back the blond hero lashed out, taking and throwing the knife away before landing a solid stomach punch. It was fairly satisfying to watch him drop like a sack of rocks.

"What the fu-!" The second guy was cut off as Chat roundhouse kicked him.

"You're going to pay for that!" The guy with the bat screamed as he rushed Chat wildly swing.

Letting a cocky grin slip the blond hero began taunting the mugger. "And it's Casey up to bat, strike one!" Chat shouted excitedly as he avoided the first swing. "Strike two, oh this is it folks can Casey hit it or will he strike out?"

"Piss off!" Strike three.

"And Casey has struck out!" Chat claimed before ramming his knee into the thug's groin. "Too bad."

Turning to the haggard couple Adrien assessed their appearances, the man had a bruise forming on the side of his face while the woman's blouse was ripped. Thankfully that coupled with the man's limp, seemed to be the extent of their injuries. "You two okay?" He asked them just to make sure.

After a moment of hesitance the man limped forward, a thankful smile appeared. "Yes, thank you Chat Blanc, I don't want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't shown-." Just then his eyes widened. "Look out!"

Chat had heard the movement behind him halfway through the man's panicked shout, turning he felt surprise to see the man with the knife now holding a gun. Before anything could be said he had squeezed the trigger and the bullet was flying. Adrenalin filled him as he rushed forward, weaving to the side to land a bone crushing punch to the man's ribs. As the rush left him his left side exploded in white hot pain.

Thankfully the bullet only grazed him, though it still hurt like hell. Pain flared in his left side but the blonde ignored it before turning back to the two bystandards. "Get out of here and call the police!" He ordered harshly as his right hand went to his bleeding wound.

Biting the inside of his cheek Adrien hesitantly removed his hand from his side. White was marred by blood. This wasn't good he needed to get out of here, get home, and do something about this. Putting pressure back on the wound the blond took a deep breath before taking his hand off the wound and wincing before placing the pressure back on. "Definitely going to need stitches..." Adrien whispered to himself as he continued to keep pressure against the wound. Frowning he recalled an incident from a couple weeks ago where a late night street thug with a knife had managed to land a cut on his arm, though that hadn't been nearly as bad as this.

Thankfully the civilian didn't hesitate at Chat's shout, grasping his significant other's hand he quickly led her away. Chat waited until they were good distance away before jumping back to the rooftops. Admittedly, preforming parkour was not the brightest thing to do after getting shot, but it was the fastest way to get home. Once he got home he could tend to this injury. Even though the bullet had only nicked him, this was still not something to ignore.

He was nearly home when the pain became unbearable and his body refused to jump again. Collapsing into a heap on the roof his feet had landed on Adrien groaned while keeping pressure on his side. It was one thing to get smacked around by an akuma the suit offered amazing protection against that, but it was another to get shot. Breathing rough Chat tried to pick himself up only to find that he didn't have the strength to do so. At least not on his own and not without taking pressure off the wound. 'Damn it...' He uttered in thought, realizing that he was in a bind.

If it were under any other circumstance he would have recognized the smell of baked bread in the air. He would have realized who's rooftop he was currently on, it was his favorite place to visit in all of Paris after all. But for now Chat would have to be content to close his eyes and mentally prepare himself to stand back up.

* * *

Marinette and Alya had been in her room, they were currently playing a round of Super Smash Bros. Usually Marinette dominated at games, but Alya was skilled enough at this one to keep up with her best friend. Also, much to her surprise, being a superhero had improved her reflexes so that was a plus.

"Falcon Punch!" Alya's character shouted as Marinette's Link rolled out of the way, grabbed Captain Falcon with his hook shot, and kicked him off the stage. Alya was determined however, when her character didn't die right away she quickly jumped her way back to the stage, and timed it so that when Marinette went to push her away Captain Falcon had grabbed Link, and in a burst of flames sent him flying.

"Someone's been practicing." Marinette commented as she threw a bomb at Alya's character. The red head's response was cut off as a loud thump from up above sounded. "What in the?" The dark haired girl muttered as she looked at her rooftop. 'Was that Chat?' She wondered with a nervous frown as Alya paused the game and glanced up as well. 'Why did he have to come tonight?' She asked worried for the inevitable teasing that would come from her best friend.

After a few seconds of mental debate, and no usual tapping on glass, the two girls headed up to investigate. They saw him immediately. The dark haired girl felt her heart leap into her throat at the sight of him collapsed. "Oh my god, Chat!" Marinette cried out as she ran over to him. Now that she was closer she could see blood pooling on her rooftop.

Alya's face paled as she took in her teammate's pained expression. Looking him over she quickly located the source of his pain. 'What happened?! Why didn't he call me or Nino?!' Tikki had not informed her of any incoming calls, so she knew for sure that he hadn't tried to contact her. "Ad-Chat, Chat Blanc are you okay?" She asked trying to keep a level head.

Yellow eyes slowly opened to see who had spoken. 'Of course I'd end up on your roof.' Adrien didn't even have the luxury of wanting to keep from burdening Marinette with his problems. Seeing Marinette's bright blue eyes become filled with unshed tears Adrien tried to give a comforting smile. "H-hey Princess." He bit his lip to keep from groaning in pain.

Concern filled her as she brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Oh god Chat, what happened?" Marinette asked as she helped him sit up. Looking down at his side she saw the source of his pain, his hand was covering the wound and there was a lot of blood. "What happened?" Her voice cracked slightly as she repeated her question.

Chat knew that he was still in trouble, and he needed help. It seemed that help had come in the form of Marinette. "Co-couple of muggers. One of them had a g-gun." He explained his breathing still a little shallow.

"Oh my god." Adrien finally noticed Alya's presence as she spoke up.

Adrien forced a weak smile. "So-sorry Marinette...Didn't realize you had company..." He was breathing pretty heavily right now, trying to ignore the pain in his side.

Marinette's worried face remained as she assured him. "Don't even worry about it, minou." She told him with a shaky breath while running a hand through his hair. Now was not the time to be hesitating, her friend was hurt, and right now she needed to help him. Standing up her decision was made. "Just wait here, I'm going to get some towels." She informed him before turning to Alya. "Alya, call an ambulance." She ordered, causing the glasses wearing girl's eyes to widened. .

Adrien's muddled mind took a moment to process Marinette's soft words before he realized what she had just said. "No!" He cried out before flinching in pain. He didn't mean to snap so harshly, but there was a reason he couldn't go to the hospital. "No ho-hospital...Se-secret...will ge-get out." He managed to get out. His breaths coming out in panic heaves as he tried to stop Marinette.

Alya had to hold herself back from telling Marinette to listen to Chat. While she knew that Adrien had to keep his identity a secret she was more concerned with the fact that he was suffering from a gunshot wound and was bleeding. While the holder of the Ladybug miraculous felt that keeping their identities a secret was of the utmost importance she knew that Adrien's life should not be thrown away.

At his shout Marinette stopped and took in his pleading eyes. She felt conflicted, logically she knew that she needed to call paramedics. This was not an incident that a couple of teenage girls should be dealing with. "Chat! You need to let us call them, you're hurt!" She argued, hoping that he'd see reason.

Chat gritted his teeth as he realized that he'd have argue his point. He knew that his transformation wouldn't hold long enough for the doctors to tend to him, and his identity would be known. He didn't even want to imagine his father's reaction at learning he was Chat Blanc, he'd never have freedom again.

Steadying his breathing he spoke calmly. "No...it's not that bad..." The blond hero tried to tell her causing both girls to frown.

Marinette looked appalled by his statement. "Not that bad! You were shot!" The girl with pigtails screamed. "Wait here, I'm going to get some towels, Alya call the paramedics!" She ordered, keeping to her original plan, before standing back up.

Adrien mentally screamed in pain as his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. "Pr-Princess, the bullet just grazed me." He tried explaining. "All I need is someone to stitch me up. Plea-please if you have the supplies I might be able to do it myself." He told her, his tone a mixture of pleading and desperate. Despite his current state he did not want his father to learn of this.

Every instinct in her was screaming at her to ignore Chat's plea. However one look into his hopeful yellow eyes and Marinette knew she couldn't refuse him, not when he so openly trusted her. 'This is a horrible idea.' But Chat Blanc was begging for her help. Nodding she agreed. "Okay then, let's get you inside."

Not wanting to waste time she grasped his arm gently before bringing it over her shoulder as Alya looked at her in surprise. Seeing her best friend's hesitance the dark haired teenager scowled. "Help me Alya." She commanded, prompting the redhead to accept Chat Blanc's other arm and placed it over her shoulder. The two girls simultaneously lifted him to his feet and led him to the trap door. .

"Alya get the towels from the hallway closet!" Taking charge Marinette dolled out her order while leading Chat into her bathroom. The dark haired girl could tell that her heroic friend was holding back whimpers of pain as she sat him down on the edge of the tub. "Let me see." Facing him she placed one of her hands on the wrist that was holding his side as Alya followed Marinette's orders.

Chat complied with her, pulling his hand away Marinette assessed the damaged skin, it was still bleeding pretty badly, he needed to get stitched up now. 'Oh god, I don't know what I'm doing...' The dark haired girl thought grimly. "I've only ever sewn clothes, I don't know if I can do this..." She muttered to herself as she tried to keep a level head. One look at Chat's trembling hands and she knew there was no way that he'd be able to do it himself. 'I'm going to have to do this.' Were her panicked thoughts as she went to work.

Marinette pulled out the suture kit from below the sink. A quick couple reads of the instructions and a moment to mentally prepare herself she was as ready as she could ever be. Which meant that she wasn't ready. Quickly washing off the tools she would need she left them to the side to dry before going over to Chat.

It was at that point that Alya came in with the towels. Marinette carefully began cleaning the wound, wiping away some of the blood as Alya watched quietly, feeling guilty that she and Nino had left their friend on his own. "Can you remove the suit?" Marinette asked as on the outside she was calm but inwardly she was still in panic mode.

Nodding the blond used his free hand to remove the bell form his collar and zip down the suit. Marinette had to help him get his left side out, because once that was done it would be a lot easier to finish cleaning the wound. Chat gave a slight wince as she removed the left side of his suit from his body.

Once she could clearly see the wound Marinette irrigated it with the cold solution as Chat Blanc prepared himself for the unavoidable pain. Luckily it didn't sting nearly as bad as he had anticipated. The pigtailed girl was very careful as she continued clearing away the blood, dead skin, and pieces of white leather from the surrounding area.

Reaching for his tail Marinette offered it to him to bite down on, last thing she wanted was for him to bite down on his tongue while stitching him up. "I'm going to prepare the wound for stitches ok?" A simple nod was her answer as he bit down. "Try to remain still." She reminded him. Marinette knew she was asking a lot of him to keep unmoving, but she didn't want to mess up.

Alya watched on from the side as Marinette proved to be amazing under pressure. 'I'm not sure if I could remain this calm if it were me and Nino...' She and her boyfriend had never been shot during their superhero careers. Considering how much pain the blond was in she knew that she never wanted to be in that situation. 'Adrien...' She turned her attention to him as he tried to remain still throughout the whole ordeal.

Tomorrow she and Nino would have to have a talk. It wasn't good that Adrien had gotten hurt like this, and they needed to put in precautions to avoid this situation again. Especially when it could lead to one of their identities getting out or worse. 'It might be time Nino and I reveal ourselves to him.' If Adrien had known who they were he could have gone to Nino for help, maybe even Master Fu could have done something.

Finished with cleaning the wound, the half Asian girl gently peeled the edges apart to even them for the stitches. The whole time she was working Chat did his best to keep from flinching at every jolt of pain he felt from the open wound, it didn't matter how careful she was it still hurt. He was thankful for Tigga's help, he knew that she was doing her best to absorb as much of the pain as she could. Thanks to the white kwami's persistence he was able to remain relatively still.

With the wound ready to be stitched Marinette slipped the non-absorbable suture material into the provided needle. Taking a steady breath she began to stitch the edges of his skin together the same way she might have sewn a dress or a scarf. Her first lesson, skin was not nearly as easy to puncture as fabric.

Marinette frowned after a short while. "I'm not doing this right, am I?" She questioned hoping he would answer.

Chat groaned as the tail fell out of his mouth. "Yo-you need to make it deep enough so the skin wo-won't tear. But as close to the edge as possible." Taking a deep breath he continued. "I've given myself stitches once before." Admittedly he hadn't been in nearly as much pain as he was in now. "It was somewhat sloppy, but it did get the job done. if you give me a moment to calm down I can at least show you what it's supposed to look like..." He breathed out.

Marinette watched her friend with worried eyes, he was obviously doing his best to keep a strong front. Fighting back tears Marinette nodded, an apology on the tip of her tongue that she kept to herself. There wasn't much else she could do for him.

And she hated it. Chat Blanc had saved her numerous times, who cares if an alternate version of herself had saved an alternate version of him? She hadn't done anything to repay him, why couldn't she do that for him? Marinette blinked away tears as she tried to keep her emotions from showing on her face. Chat was already in enough pain as it was, there was no need to bother him with her own inward issues.

After a few minutes of deep calming breaths Adrien slowly grasped her wrist. "Do-don't be crying for me, Princess...You've been very helpful tonight." He assured her, trying to make her feel better. The blond could easily see Marinette's stress and he knew that she was overwhelmed by all of this. Really he was asking a lot of her to do this for him, and the fact that she was willing to go to all this trouble did much to raise the affection he felt for her.

At his thankful words Marinette felt fresh tears well up. "Stu-stupid cat...You-I want you to promise me that you'll b-be more careful from now on." A few stray tears streamed down her cheeks.

Adrien smiled weakly as white cat ears flattened. "Of course Princess..." He gave a pained smile as his hand slowly stopped shaking.

Alya frowned as she pushed herself off the wall. "Coccinelle and Black Cat should have been watching your back." She grumbled out, mostly angry at herself. If she or Nino had been with him this would not have happened, she and Nino always went out together, why couldn't one of them elect to go out on one of the nights Adrien did? Of course though she and Nino didn't patrol every day, only Adrien did that. Adrien took whatever chance he could to get out of that lonely mansion.

Adrien frowned at his classmate's harsh statement, while he knew that having one of them could have prevented this he didn't want them to be blamed. "It's no-not their fault, they each had prior engagements tonight. We don't patrol every night...I'm the only one who does that, I should have been more vigilant." He said, making sure they knew that he was also at fault.

Alya's frown deepened at the blond's desire to take the blame. She and Nino didn't patrol every single night because they didn't want to lose too much sleep. Yet Adrien, who's every single day was jam packed full almost always went out to patrol. "That may be, but still. If one of them had been there this might not have happened." Alya clenched her fist. She and Nino would tell him as soon as they could, probably on Monday at school. By then, with the accelerated healing of being a miraculous holder, he should be a lot better.

Deciding to take her two friends off topic of Paris' other heroes Marinette addressed Chat. "How do you feel right now?" She asked noticing that he seemed to be fairly more relaxed than when he first arrived. Looking down at the wound it appeared that the bleeding had lessen somewhat. Maybe the miraculous had some hidden healing properties? She had no idea how it worked.

Taking a deep breath Adrien nodded, feeling confident that he could start. "I...I feel as good as I can feel, giving the current situation. I think I should be able to at least start it." He said before putting the end of his tail back in his mouth. Taking the offered needle he waited for confirmation for Marinette that she was paying attention.

"Go ahead." She urged him in a gentle tone while refusing to take her eyes off him as he made the first stitch. Marinette made sure to imprint the image of the needle piercing his skin and the tread going through. When it was her time to take over she did not want to mess this up.

* * *

Adrien sighed in relief as Marinette finished the last stitch, knotting up the suture and cutting the excess. "Done." The dark haired girl whispered breathlessly, as she finally allowed her beating heart to calm. She was mentally exhausted.

The blond hero slumped tiredly before sliding down to the floor. 'I'm so glad that's over...' He mentally sighed. "Remind me to never get shot again." He said to the two girls, his voice a mixture of joking and exhaustion.

Marinette offered him an unamused glare. "Not funny..." She muttered before she went about putting away the supplies.

At hearing his friend's grumbled response Chat sighed knowing that his quip was in poor taste. Just as he was about to apologize, he was cut off by a loud shrill beep coming from his ring. "Ah...my transformation's going to drop." He said slightly worried. Adrien knew that even though he hadn't used his power, Tigga was most likely pretty spent keeping him from feeling too much pain. Looking down at his ring revealed that he was already down to a single paw print.

Marinette and Alya shared a look before moving to gather up the towels. They, or at least Marinette, had no intention of learning Chat Blanc's identity like this. "Okay, we'll give you some privacy." The dark haired girl told him as she and Alya made for the door. "If you need anything don't hesitate to call for us." She told him before closing the door.

As soon as the door clicked shut Adrien finally allowed his transformation to drop. He groaned in pain as the magic of the suit was no longer absorbing the worst of it. "Shit..." He cursed in a soft voice while trying to push through the pain. Thankfully his wound was finally stitched up, but his body was in a perpetual state of agony. When he got home he'd have to rifle through his medicine cabinet for some ibuprofen.

Tigga sighed tiredly, mirroring his exhaustion. "Sorry, kit. I held as long as I could, but keeping you as numb as I did took just about everything I had." The white cat kwami explained apologetically before landing on her charge's shoulder.

Shaking his head the exhausted Adrien placed all of his weight against the tub. He gently patted her head, eliciting a purr out of her. "Don't worry about it, Tigga." Out of breath he said before closing his eyes, he'd just rest for a moment.

The white kwami smiled gently at her charge before settling against him, maybe a little cat nap would do her some good.

* * *

"So you and Chat Blanc are...friends?" Alya questioned in a tone begging to know more as she and Marinette threw the bloody towels into the wash. "How did that happen?" The red haired girl asked her friend. Now that the earlier stressful event had passed she was able to relax, and ask some of the questions that had been bouncing in the back of her mind.

Alya knew that if it were under better circumstances she'd be laughing her head off at Marinette being able to talk normally to Adrien in a cat suit. 'She even calls him kitty.' But this was unfortunately not the best time.

Marinette spared her friend a glance as she started up the machine. "Chat and I are friends...somehow." Even to this day, after weeks upon weeks of his frequent visits, it was still hard to believe that she was friends with one of Paris' heroes.

At this point she might as well consider herself Chat's closest confidant. "Shortly after he started fighting alongside Coccinelle and Black Cat he showed up on my balcony. He was very apologetic about kidnapping me as an akuma, and we just started talking." The dark haired girl explained as she recalled their first conversation on her roof with a fond smile.

Alya raised an eyebrow at the light expression plastered on Marinette's face. "Talking, huh?" She asked in a suggestive tone.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at Alya's knowing look. "Don't even start, Chat and I are friends. Besides he already knows I'm in love with Adrien."

Alya's jaw dropped at that bit of news. "Yo-you told him that!?" The red whispered screamed as her eyes widened. On one hand she was happy that Marinette had managed to become good enough friends with Chat that she'd confide to him about something big like her crush, on the other hand Adrien now knew about Marinette's crush without her even realizing it.

Marinette didn't see Alya's expression become sympathetic as she turned to look at the bathroom door where Chat was on the other side of. "I couldn't really keep it from him, since he saw that wall." The pigtailed girl explained hesitantly. At least he hadn't seen the schedule...on another note perhaps it was time for Marinette to throw that out.

'Oh yeah, the wall...' Alya thought to herself as she remembered the shrine Marinette had kept up of her crush. "I bet that was embarrassing." She weakly said trying to keep from informing her best friend of Chat's identity. If Marinette found out Adrien had learned of her crush in such a horrible way she'd have a massive freak out session.

Marinette's cheeks tinted ever so slightly. "It was, but Chat was surprisingly nice about it..." The blue haired girl had honestly been surprised, considering his joking nature.

'Not too surprising.' Alya decided as she sometimes wondered if Adrien had been a saint in a past life. 'Anyone who can put up with Chloe, without snapping has gotta be.' Hell even after getting akumatized because of his dad Adrien was still willing to forgive the man. She didn't think that there was a mean bone in his body.

"He even joked with me by telling me something embarrassing about himself." Marinette said with a light giggle as she remembered the jokes and witty comments that had followed her embarrassing reveal.

Alya couldn't help but snicker at that. "Really? That's funny." The red haired teen said once she calmed down. "You've become pretty good friends with each other haven't you?" Alya asked giving her friend a secretive look.

Marinette nodded "Chat doesn't like to talk very much about himself. But I get the impression that he's very lonely. From what I've learned he doesn't even spend much time with Coccinelle or Black Cat outside of akuma attacks. I get the impression that he feels like a third wheel whenever he's around them." The blue haired girl couldn't help but feel sad for the white feline hero apparently not having many to turn to.

At hearing that Alya couldn't ignore the large amount of guilt that she felt. In a way she knew that Nino and her kept Chat Blanc at a distance, it wasn't on purpose. They had been doing this longer so they had an established dynamic. 'I guess we should have done a better job to reach out to him more.' The redhead thought regrettably. Alya knew that Nino hung out with him often during the day, but that obviously wasn't enough. "Well at least he has you, right Marinette?"

If Alya's tone hadn't been so genuine Marinette probably would have deflected the remark due to her embarrassment. But at her best friend's earnest expression Marinette felt her self smiling softly. "Yeah, he does." He had saved her so many times before, he always knew how to cheer her up with a stupid joke or pun at the tip of his tongue.

And it didn't hurt that he could be very sweet too...if it weren't for her feelings for Adrien she could easily see... 'No! No! No! Don't even go there, especially not right now...' She ventured another glance at the bathroom door. Now was not the time to consider the budding affection that she felt for her feline friend.

Alya smiled at seeing her best friend's expression, she was grateful that Marinette had unknowingly managed to become close to Adrien. 'Maybe there's hope for you yet, Mari.' When she and Nino revealed themselves to Adrien she would definitely grill him about Marinette. If there was something on Adrien's side than she would be more than happy to help him get with her friend.

* * *

Alya looked up as Marinette glanced at the door for the eleventh time in the last twenty minutes. She decided to voice her thoughts. "He's been in there for quite a while." The red head commented. It had been nearly an hour since the pair had left Chat to his own devices. In that time they had yet to hear a peep from the bathroom.

Marinette bit her lip before standing up and walking over to the bathroom. Knocking on it she softly called out to him. "Chat? Chat? You okay in there?" Alya followed her best friend over to the door, her own features becoming a mask of apprehension.

One of Tigga's ears twitched at the muted sound of someone knocking. Opening one eye she looked at the door, waiting for more sound. Another knock and inquiry later she started tapping Adrien's face. "Pst, Adrien. Wake up, Marinette is calling for you." Tigga whispered to the snoozing blonde.

Thankfully the blond was a relatively light sleeper, the sound of someone knocking and the sensation of something poking him was enough to rouse him. Opening his green eyes he groaned at the dull yet throbbing pain in his side. Breathing out a shaky breath he turned to look at his kwami who was still trying to get his attention.

Tigga directed her eyes to the door as another knock sounded out. "Chat? Please tell me you're okay?" Marinette's worried voice sounded out.

Eyes widened as he became more alert. "Ye-yeah. I'm okay! I just kind of fell asleep." He admitted with a sheepish chuckle.

"Oh." Marinette said as she put a hand on the knob. "Is it okay to come in?" She asked before turning the knob.

Green eyes became panicked as Adrien tried to stand up. "N-No I'm not transformed." He quickly got out, actually managing to get to his feet by putting his weight on the tub. "Ju-just let me feed my kwami and I'll be right out." He told her as he reached into his pocket for the can of tuna he'd brought.

"Kwami?" Marinette tested the unfamiliar word on her tongue.

The blond frowned as he realized how easily he had just let slip something important regarding his powers. Though he wasn't too worried, he knew he could trust Marinette. "I-it's what allows me to transform. I'll explain another time." He promised as Tigga inhaled her meal.

Back in costume Adrien breathed easy as the pain in his side became much less noticeable. 'At least the suit's repaired.' He thought looking down at his covered side.

Opening the door he exited the bathroom and met the worried stares of Marinette and Alya. Blue eyes blinked as she spoke. "Ho-how are you feeling?" She asked tentatively.

Adrien gave her a reassuring smile. "Much better, thanks to you Princess." Marinette smiled as Alya fought the urge to snicker upon hearing the boy she knew as Adrien refer to her best friend as princess. "Seriously, you guys thank you."

Alya grinned. "It was our pleasure, though I think all the credit should go to Marinette. She's the one who's handy with a needle and thread. I just stood back and tried not to get in the way." Despite her lighthearted tone Alya couldn't help but feel somewhat inadequate at not being able to help her teammate. Though that shouldn't matter, what was important was that Adrien would be okay.

"You probably shouldn't be jumping around too much." Alya said as Marinette closed the door to her room. "We thought it might be a good idea for you to sleep here for the rest of the night, and head out early in the morning."

While a part of Adrien didn't want to inconvenience them any further, he knew that it probably was a good idea to get some rest before trying to head home. Especially after losing as much blood as he did. Even Tigga had told him he shouldn't be doing anything too strenuous for the foreseeable future. 'Which means no fighting akumas.' At least until he healed enough that he could take the stitches out. "Yeah." He agreed without argument.

The two girls visibly relaxed at Chat agreeing to rest before heading out. Marinette pointed up to her bed. "Since you're hurt you can take my bed. And I won't take no for an answer." She firmly said the moment Chat opened his mouth.

"Geeze, already getting him in your bed, at least take him to dinner first." Alya couldn't help but crack. The glasses wearing girl laughed at seeing Marinette's face to flush in embarrassment.

"Al-Alya!" The twin tailed girl sputtered, scandalized at her friend's suggestive remark.

Chat picked his jaw back up at the red head's remark before softly snickering. "Your friend is right, I don't feel right going to bed before the first date." At him continuing the joke Alya broke into laughter.

Marinette, doing her best not to let their off color joking get to her, fixed Chat with a glare. "The moment you've recovered, you are so dead." She promised him in a tone that actually did send shivers down his spine.

Chat chuckled while doing his best to pretend that he didn't fear Marinette's wrath. "Haha, please don't kill me." He said before accepting Marinette's bed. Marinette gave him a flat look before sighing and leading him up to her bed. When he winced in pain as she helped him lay down she turned to her best friend who had been watching the two. "Alya, can you get me some painkillers from my medicine cabinet?" The red haired girl nodded and went to preform the task her best friend had asked of her.

* * *

"Are you still awake?" Marinette asked from her place on the floor.

After having agreed on bedding arrangements the three teenagers had turned off the lights. Marinette had given Alya the chaise to sleep on, while Chat took her bed. Marinette had grabbed some extra blankets and pillows and made herself a fairly comfortable makeshift bed near the ladder of her loft bed.

After a moment of silence Chat spoke up. "Yeah," Marinette hummed in response. "You can't sleep either?" He asked.

The dark haired girl nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "I guess I'm just still wound up from earlier. You understand?" She laughed softly.

The feline hero chuckled weakly. "Yeah, even though I'm tired I guess I can't relax enough to go to sleep." Chat sighed. "Sucks, because in a few hours I'll have to sneak out and head home. I'm sure my father has a lot planned for me." He muttered the last part, his tone bitter.

"Your father?" The blue eyed girl asked, curious about his tone. In the time she had known Chat he rarely, almost never, mentioned his family. From the way he spoke it felt like he held a healthy amount of repressed resentment against his dad.

Chat paused as he contemplated continuing the subject or shutting it down. He knew that if he said too much he could tip off Marinette as to who he was, but at the time a part of him didn't care. Marinette was his closest friend, next to Nino, and he wanted to talk to her about it.

"My father is very strict. More strict than most parents. Before I became Chat Blanc he dictated literally every single aspect of my life. What and when I eat, to who I do and don't socialize with, even the clothes I'm allowed to wear is decided by him." Adrien could feel his pent up frustration finally being allowed some release. "Becoming Chat Blanc was the best thing that ever happened to me, it meant freedom to me. Even if the cost was hurting you and others."

Marinette had been silent during his rant, she was surprised to hear that Chat's home life was so unhappy. 'He's always smiling and joking.' She thought to herself sad for her friend's home life. She would have never guess that her superhero friend lead such an oppressive life.

Marinette knew what it was like to complain about parents, hers were nosy sure, but they were not that overbearing. Marinette was sure that if her parent's controlled every single aspect of her life she'd pull her hair out. "Chat, you know I don't blame you for what you did that day."

The blond frowned. "I...I would. If I had better control-."

Marinette cut him off with a harsh hush. "We've talked about this, minou. You can't always have a handle on your emotions. Humans are emotional creatures. Even I could give way to uncontrollable anger and go on a rampage. These days anyone can."

Chat Blanc was silent for a moment, so silent that Marinette wondered if he had drifted off during her speech. Sitting up she looked up at the figure on her bed, his yellow eyes had been pointing in her direction. Locking eyes they were silent for a moment until he spoke. "My father was the reason I got akumatized." He told her.

"What?" She was surprised at that admission. What could his dad have done that would have set him off like that. The dark haired girl could definitely feel the shift in the air between them, they were really nearing some very personal matters. She didn't have the heart to stop him though, if he wanted to share his burden with her she'd indulge him.

Adrien took a deep breath to compose his thoughts. He hadn't told anyone the reason why he'd been akumatised, but he knew if there was anyone he'd want to confide to it'd be the blue eyed girl looking at him right now. "It was actually my birthday that day. My best friend tried to convince my dad to let me have a party but he didn't go for that." He looked away, his face scrounging up in annoyance. "My father actually told me I wasn't allowed to hang out with him anymore, said he was a bad influence. So I ran, I ran and I exploded. I was so angry, I do everything he asks yet he's never even-!" Adrien felt himself choking up as he realized he was saying more than he wanted to.

Out of nowhere delicate yet firm arms wrapped around him. Tear filled glowing yellow eyes looked up at her, he hadn't heard her climb on the bed. "It's okay, Chaton." Was all she said as she tightened her hold on him. Chat swallowed before pressing up against her and returning the hug.

Marinette closed her eyes as she rubbed Chat's back soothingly, comforting her friend. She didn't know everything about his situation. But she knew that it couldn't be a very good one if he had a reaction like this. It's funny, if she wasn't comforting a crying cat she might have been able to have taken the time to realize that Chat had the same birthday as Adrien. Thankfully for the blonde in question she didn't care to make the connection. All that mattered right now was comforting her friend.

Tomorrow Marinette would wake up to the grinning face of her best friend, questioning what it was like to share a bed with a superhero.

* * *

Okay this was a long one. So some of you might have noticed some similarities between the events of the later half of this chapter and another story titled Double Jeu by Kurohaha. Well that's because I needed an event where Adrien, as Chat Blanc gets hurt and Marinette helps him. Now I tried to change it around enough to put my own spin on it. I also asked Kurohaha for permission and he was okay with me using similar events. The only thing I would say that I drew direct reference from was the method Marinette used to patch Chat up. Because I don't know how to give stitches to someone, I figured that was as good as a reference as any.

Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this lengthy chapter, I know I did. Until the next installment.


	5. Reveals

Here we are, the next chapter. I'm glad to see that so many people are liking this. I hope I can continue to bring enjoyment to my readers. Anyways this chapter, while fairly lengthy, is shorter than the last one, either way I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

The White Cat

Part Five: Reveals

It was early that morning when Adrien woke up, thankfully his transformation had held out through the night. The slight dull pain in his side was the only reminder of what had occurred the previous night. Upon trying to get up he found himself unable to due to the weight holding him down. Eyes widened as he looked down to see Marinette's head on his chest. Her eyes closed, her lips set in a soft content smile.

He was struck by how peaceful she looked, in his mind waking her up right now should be a crime deserving of the worse punishment. Holding his breath he very slowly and very carefully separated himself from her. Standing up next to the bed he glanced around the still somewhat dark room. He caught sight of Alya sprawled on the chaise from below, she was snoring lightly. Glancing at the window the white clad hero frowned at seeing the sun slowly beginning it's ascent. He needed to leave, and get home before he was missed.

Looking down at the sleeping girl Adrien offered a small smile. "See you at school, Princess." Brushing some hair out of her face he muttered. Marinette silently turned in her sleep, as if instinctually searching for the warmth that had left her bed. Chuckling under his breath he brought the covers up to ward off the cool morning air.

He finally allowed his transformation to drop as he entered his room, Tigga tiredly floated over to her make shift bed and let out a tired sigh before plopping down. Adrien, smiled tiredly, as he prepared to do the same. Before he could get under the covers a knock sounded out against his closed door, as if purposely preventing his much needed sleep.

Adrien scowled before checking the time. According to the clock on his night stand It was only a little after 5:30, he should still have another thirty minutes before having to get up. Sighing he went over to his door and opened it, to his utter shock instead of his father's assissant standing there, it was his father. "Fa-father." Adrien, face going pale, uttered.

The injured hero had not expected his father to come to his room, especially so early in the morning. Despite the early hour Gabriel Agreste was the picture perfect vision of put together. Not a wrinkle in his suit or a hair out of place. How someone could be so well put together at this early hour Adrien would never know. The man in question fixed his son with a curious look before motioning that he wanted his son to let him in.

The teen model stepped back and wordlessly allowed his father entrance. Closing the door Adrien stood at attention, hoping that whatever his father wanted wouldn't take too long. If he was lucky he might be able to squeeze in fifteen minutes of sleep before having to get up.

"I have been meaning to speak to you about something for awhile now." His father said, his voice calm and collected as always. "For the last couple of months I have allowed myself to play oblivious. Not questioning too persistently when you go missing at times during the day, or why when you show up you have paper thin excuses. But I cannot ignore the fact that you are just now getting home," He glanced at his watch. "At 5:30 in the morning."

Adrien felt his stomach drop as his father spoke. He had been caught, and from what his father was saying he hadn't really been getting away with all of his sneaking around. 'But how much does he know? Does he know I'm Chat Blanc or does he just know about the sneaking out?' If it was the latter than it was possible that he could talk his way out of this.

He'd just have to be extra apologetic, promise to do better, and actually do better...at sneaking around. "Father I-."

Gabriel held up his hand, silently telling him to not even bother. "I know everything son." There was no emotion in his words, but there was a knowing glint in his eye as he looked at the ring on Adrien's finger. "Chat Blanc." Seeing his father's gaze Adrien flinched and clutched his right hand protectively. Gabriel gave a small frown. "There's no need to be so apprehensive Adrien. If I was going to take that ring I would have done so already."

Adrien frowned but didn't let go of his hand. Not completely trusting his father's words. "Wh-what are you going to do, then?" He asked hesitantly.

Gabriel placed his hands behind his back before looking around the room. Off to the side he could see the little kwami, trying to stay out of sight. Gabriel felt a hint of nostalgia as he recalled his days of youth, hiding a tiny creature from his parents. He recalled with some fondness of running at night atop the roofs of Paris. The only difference was that his parents were never so perceptive, sadly for Adrien nothing got by him. "Nothing." He told his shell shocked son.

Green eyes widened in surprise. "Nothing?" Adrien questioned disbelievingly. That statement went against everything he ever assumed his father would do if he learned about his moonlighting as Chat Blanc. He figured that he'd be locked even tighter than ever, but his father was basically telling him that his fears were for naught.

Gabriel nodded as though his response should have been expected. "I will not forcefully take that ring from you. The consequences are unacceptable, and I'm already certain of your response should I ask you to relinquish it." His father stated his voice perfectly controlled. In fact the ring actually offered a fair bit of protection to Adrien.

Logically Gabriel knew that Papillon was aware of Chat Blanc's identity. If Adrien were to be separated from his powers he'd be an easy target for knowingly having gone against the super villain. Plus there were other reasons that he would not forcibly take the ring from his son. The best solution in his mind would be to take his son out of the country and away from the danger, but Gabriel knew that wasn't a favorable outcome for Adrien.

Despite to seemingly not care for his son's emotional being Gabriel did in fact care deeply for his son's happiness. This was one of the few rare instances where he would not forcibly take that away from Adrien. Even if he did have some reservations about allowing Adrien to keep fighting as Chat Blanc.

Adrien averted his eyes to look over at Tigga who had given up all pretenses of hiding. "I see. We-well then, thank you father." The blond said, honestly grateful that for once his father wasn't going against him.

Gabriel was unfazed by his son's response. "Incidentally I feel the need to question why you were out all night. As far as I could tell there was no akuma attack, yet you only just returned home. Explain." The fashion designer demanded, wanting to know why his son had seen fit to remain out all night.

Adrien frowned at his father remaining as he always was but complied. "I just ended up staying out later than usual. Sorry." He explained simply to his father's unconvinced face.

Gabriel sighed, his disbelief evident. "Adrien if you are going to lie to me, at least be convincing. Why don't you explain why there is blood on your shirt?" He said, indicating to the dried blood from where his shirt covered his wound.

Adrien's hand instinctually went to his wounded side, the dull pain still had yet to leave him. Looking down he did see some splashes of red. Knowing he was caught Adrien gave in. "I got into a bit of trouble, I was saving a couple from a mugger and one of them got the drop on me. I had to get patched up and ended up staying the night." He didn't dare let his father know just how badly injured he had been.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at this somewhat vague response but found that it was the truth and acceptable enough. "Since I didn't receive a call from the hospital I'm assuming you didn't go to medical professionals." Adrien's father deduced easily enough. "Who did you go to?" He questioned, wondering who Adrien would have take care of his wounds.

Adrien met his father's stare before averting his eyes. "A friend..." At his father's unrelenting gaze he caved. "Marinette, she sits behind me at school."

Gabriel pursed his lips as if trying to recall the girl. "That name sounds familiar..." He pointed out, prompting his son to mention that she was the winner of his hat design competition. "Ah yes, Mile Dupain-Cheng, seems skill with a needle and thread translates into being able to sew stitches." He said pointedly.

Adrien gaped that his father had actually remembered her before frowning. "Ho-how'd you know I got stitches?" He wondered after his previous shock wore off.

"You just told me." Was Gabriel's simple response as he started to head for the door. The frown that graced his face went unseen by Adrien. "Since you are still injured I will see to it that your schedule for today is cleared. Best get some rest." The older man stated before putting his hand on the door knob.

Pausing he turned to his son, with one last question. "Does mile Dupain-Cheng know about your identity?" His tone had a surprising amount of unhidden curiosity to it.

Adrien shook his head in response. "Not yet, but as Chat Blanc she is my closest friend." He admitted, not even having the energy to be surprised his own admission. 'Not yet...' Did he intend to tell her eventually? Questions for later.

Gabriel's expression turned thoughtful for a split second before it went back to normal. "I see. Well then, rest up. Miraculous or not you are still the face of this company and I expect you to not shirk your responsibilities." He told him before finally leaving.

Adrien stood there for a few minutes before plopping down on his bed. "Oh my god..." He muttered at this turn of events. Not only did his father know about his crime fighting he hadn't been punished for it. "I guess miracles do exist." He muttered cynically. 'Or maybe this is just more of the usual...'

"You okay, kit?" Tigga asked her charge as he remained sprawled on his bed.

Glancing up at the white kwami Adrien nodded hesitantly. "I guess...I'm just surprised. Not only had my dad known about me but..." He frowned, split between being thankful and disappointed. "Don't get me wrong I'm thankful that he isn't going to try and take the ring, but I just...I don't know." He didn't really want to understand this.

Tigga couldn't help but frown at Adrien's predicament. In the time she had spent with him she couldn't help but be heartbroken at seeing his home life. He lived under an oppressive schedule, had few close friends, rarely saw what little family he has. 'Even when he does see his dad...' It's not pleasant. The boy had little to no warmth in his life, it's amazing he's as kind hearted as he is. The only warmth he had ever received after the disappearance of his mother was from Nino and Marinette.

"Hah. Forget about it. I'm just going to sleep, for once my schedule's clear so I might as well enjoy it while I can." The blond said before laying down and closing his eyes.

Tigga smiled sadly at her charge before floating over and landing on the pillow next to his face. "Good night, kit." She said softly before closing her eyes. A cat nap wouldn't hurt her much.

Adrien didn't visit Marinette that night, or Sunday night. Tigga and he had decided it'd be best for him not to transform until he was better. The perks of being a miraculous user was that he healed fast, even when not in the suit. As long as he kept the ring on, he'd be back to normal in no time.

* * *

By Monday morning he was able to walk around with no pain. Though Tigga still forbade him from transforming for the next couple days. Thankfully he did manage to convince the cat like creature to at least let him go visit Marinette as Chat later that night. "Just to let her know I'm okay." He had argued.

But that would have to wait until after school. Getting out of the car he smiled upon seeing the building that he would be spending a good portion of the day at. After spending the weekend cooped up he was very happy to be at Francois Dupont. His school. Most teens his age usually groaned about having to attend school, but not him. No Adrien was always thankful for the chance to attend public school, he had worked so hard to get here. And while it wasn't quite everything he had hoped for, it was still enjoyable.

"Adrikins!" A familiar voice rang out before a pair of arms latched around his neck.

Adrien barely managed to keep the pained yelp from escaping his throat as Chloe's usual antics aggravated his wound. Even if he was able to move around without pain, having someone jump at him wasn't good. "Hey Chlo..." He managed through gritted teeth.

The blonde paused as she realized that something was wrong with her childhood friend. While Chloe was superficial, self absorbed, and an all-around horrible person, she was able to tell when something was bothering her dearest friend. "What's wrong Adrihoney? You seem to be in pain." She mentioned, noticing his discomfort.

Adrien clicked his tongue before shrugging. "I'm okay Chloe. I just slept weird last night, so I'm a little sore." He lied easily enough.

Chloe seemed to buy his fib. "Oh that's terrible, Adrikins. You should have your father get you a new bed, the one you have is clearly no good." Adrien inwardly sighed, not at all wishing to deal with his oldest friend in his current state.

He brushed past her. "Yeah, I'll talk to him." He lied before making his way to class, the sooner he got there the sooner he could sit down.

Nino watched the exchange with Alya at his side, a worried frown on his face. "I should have been with him." He said low enough that only his girlfriend could hear him. On the outside he was mostly calm, but inside he was raging over not having had his best bud's back.

Alya put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up, Nino. I spent the whole night at Marinette's blaming myself as well." And biting her tongue at every sound of discomfort that had escaped him. "But that's not going to help him, we need to talk to Adrien."

Nino nodded. "I know babe..." He hesitated for a second. "Are you still okay with me telling him?"

Alya nodded firmly. "Yeah, I'm sure. We should have told him sooner, maybe this way something like this can never happen again."

Nino smiled bitterly before looking in the direction of Paris best bakery. "At least Mari was someone he could go to. I never would have figured that her and Adrien would become friends the way they did."

Alya did allow a small laugh. "If Marinette knew that it was Adrien under the mask who kept visiting her late at night she'd flip." A part of her really wanted to let Marinette in on about her, Nino, and Adrien. Of course though the sane part of her knew that was a bad idea, what with Papillon around.

Nino shared in her laugh before sobering up. "You know, if you don't want to tell him who you are you don't have to." The dark skinned boy offered. He knew that if Alya wanted to keep her identity a secret he wouldn't mind it. But he didn't want to keep Adrien in the dark about himself. 'I'm supposed to be his best friend.' He shouldn't have to lie to his best friend, not when he already knew about his own secret.

Alya shook her head, rejecting her boyfriend's offer. "I appreciate the offer, but I also want to tell him. I think that if we're going to take on Papillon we should have a united front. No secrets between the three of us."

Nino was happy at the red head's choice. "I'm so lucky to have you." He said as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

Alya smirked. "I'm the lucky one." She said before leaning in and pecking her boyfriend's lips.

The sound of gagging came from one of their pockets. "Gah! I think I've lost my lunch!" Plagg complained as he exited Nino's pocket. From Alya's bag the two heroes could hear muffled giggles.

Nino smirked at the tiny cat's discomfort before pulling a small cube of cheese out for the little glutton. "I guess you don't want this morsel of camembert I was saving for you then." He teased.

With insane speed the cat kwami latched onto the block of cheese. "And like that I'm back!" He cried out happily eating his cheese.

* * *

Adrien's eyes shifted, trying to catch sight of the girl behind him. Over the weekend he had not been able to visit her as Chat Blanc, too busy healing. He could see that she was a little out of it today, as though her weekend had been spent worrying. 'Worrying over me...' The blond felt his heartbeat pick up a little.

While he hadn't tried to think too much about Marinette's crush on his civilian self he couldn't lie. It was nice to know that his superhero persona was also near and dear to her. While she might not be in love with Chat Blanc, it did help that she cared as much as she did about his alter ego. He wished he could turn around and tell her that it was him, and that he was okay.

'I need to go visit her tonight.' While he was currently benched for akuma attacks he felt healed enough to manage a visit for his favorite princess tonight. 'Let her know that I'm okay, and thank her.' She had done so much for him and Chat Blanc wanted her to know just how much that meant to him.

Feeling someone gently nudge his arm Adrien looked to his side to see Nino trying to get his attention. Offering the dark skinned boy an odd look prompted him to point forward. The teacher was currently writing something on the board, while saying that this would be on next week's test. Adrien frowned as he resumed taking notes.

The rest of the school day was fairly uneventful, the four friends did have their usual lunch and Marinette did seem less nervous than usual. Though Adrien noted that she was pretty distracted for pretty much most of the day. After the final class Nino asked the blond if he had a few minutes. "Hey dude, I needed to talk to you about something important." The headphones wearing boy had told him. "You got a minute?"

Adrien blinked in surprise before sending a quick text to his driver to let him know that he'd be a few minutes later than usual. "Sure, what did you need to talk about?" He asked curiously.

The dark skinned boy glanced around the room before shaking his head. "Not here, man. This is kind of personal, come with me."

The blond nodded before following his best friend who led him to an abandoned class. Before Adrien could close the door behind them a familiar hand stopped him from doing so. The teen model looked shocked at seeing that Alya had followed them. As he was opening his mouth to ask what was going on Nino beat him to the punch.

"So this is probably going to surprise you, but we know that you're Chat Blanc." That caused Adrien's eyes to widened to the size of saucers.

The blond turned to look at his best friend in surprise. "You guys too?!" He couldn't help but shout. He knew that his father had figured it out, but he felt that he had done a decent job of keeping it under wrap from his friends.

His reaction seemed to stun the other two teens. Deciding to question his reaction later Nino continued on with his explanation. "Well yeah, but that's because we have a secret of our own." As he spoke two little creatures floated out of his and Alya's pockets.

"These are our kwamis." The red haired super heroine explained. "Meet Tikki and Plagg, with them we are able to turn into Coccinelle and Black Cat."

Adrien's jaw dropped as he realized what was going on. "No way. The entire time?" He asked while processing the fact that two of his friends had been superheroes with him being none the wiser.

Nino grinned at his best friend's reaction. "Yep. The entire time, even before you joined us we've been kicking akuma butt." He proudly claimed.

Overcoming his shock Adrien chuckled as he walked over to his bud. "Dude, that's awesome." He said bumping fist with the aspiring DJ. "I sit next to you in class everyday, and have been fighting evil for the last two few months and I never would have realized it."

The hat wearing teen chuckled at his best friend. "That's the point, Alya and me, we've become good at keeping subtle."

The blond smirked at the DJ. "I don't know about that, now that I know it suddenly makes a lot of sense. I always thought the two of you ran off during akuma attacks to go make out."

Nino chuckled. "That's for after we beat the bad guy." He said before winking at his girlfriend who only rolled her eyes at his playfulness.

"Alright, alright." Alya said, breaking into the conversation. Turning to Adrien she addressed him. "Adrien, we decided to tell you this because we felt that we should have much sooner." This caused the teen model to raise an eyebrow. Glancing down at where she knew his healing wound was she frowned. "If you had known our identities you could have gone to Nino for help, instead of crash landing on Marinette's." She explained, causing the blond to mirror her frown.

Adrien turned to face her, not liking the look of guilt on his best friend's girl's face he shook his head. "It's not your guy's fault. I was careless." He told her firmly causing her to narrow her eyes.

"Even then, Nino and I should always have your back." The super heroine claimed, still displeased that Adrien had gotten hurt during her and Nino's absence. "Despite the crazy jam packed schedule you have you still manage to go out and patrol nearly every night. Nino and I have been talking and we think that at the very least two of us should be patrolling every night any of us go out."

Adrien frowned at that. "You guys don't need to go out every night if you can't. The only reason I run as much as I do is because it get's me out of that house." He explained, not being able to completely mask the bitterness in his voice.

His home, while huge, was so empty that now that he could get out he did so as much as possible. Being able to run across the starlit sky, and not be confined to the cold mansion that he called a home was liberating. And if he happened to visit Marinette on one of his late night runs that was a bonus.

Nino shook his head, agreeing with his girlfriend. "No man, she's right. None of us should patrol alone, we need to watch each other's rears. Not just yours, but ours too." He explained. "What happened to you could happen to any of us."

The blond backed down slightly, finding some merit in his friend's statement. It also meant that he had to watch Coccinelle and Black Cat's backs. 'We are supposed to be a team...'

Nino, echoing his thoughts, continued. "We're a team, and as a team we need to work together if we wanna take Papillon down." When Adrien slowly nodded he breathed a sigh of relief.

Alya smiled. "I'm glad you're okay Sunshine Boy, when I saw you land on Marinette's roof I was scared out of my wits." She admitted before allowing her lips to dip into a smirk. "Now that you're okay though, I did have a few questions regarding the new stray cat Mari's been feeding. Know anything about that?" She asked teasingly causing Adrien's cheeks to tint slightly.

Nino laughed at his best friend's embarrassed look before placing his hand on his shoulders. "I'd been wondering that too? Are you trying to impress the class-rep by using the superhero street cred?" He asked teasingly, prompting Adrien to playfully push him away and punch his shoulder.

What followed was an embarrassing explanation as to how he started visiting Marinette during the night as Chat Blanc. He even informed them that he was very well aware of Marinette's crush, hard to ignore it after seeing the wall. When Alya asked him what he was planning to do about that he was honest.

"If she ever got the courage to confess I'd love to go out with her." He had told the red head. "Or if she could calm down enough to be around me as Adrien to where we could talk, I'd ask her out." That seemed to have made the glasses wearing girl happy as she excitedly told him that she would help him in his endeavor to get Marinette to be more relaxed around him at school.

* * *

That night when Marinette heard the familiar sound of boots touching down on her roof she looked up in mixed surprise and relief. Standing up from her desk, leaving her open sketchbook alone, she quickly climbed to the trap door. Opening it before Chat Blanc had the chance to knock she looked up she saw him peering down at her with a curious expression.

"You're okay." Were the first words out of her mouth.

The white clad hero raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Of course I am, you did do a punderful stitch job after all." He told her as she climbed out of her room and onto the roof.

Not even letting his horrible punning get to her she wrapped him in a hug, taking the blond hero by surprise. "I was so worried." She stifled a sniffle as his face heated up.

The white cat themed hero looked at her in surprise before returning the embrace and holding her close to him. "I'm okay now Princess. Thanks to you." He told her, his voice becoming a little softer.

Calming down Marinette realized just how close she was to her hero friend, but despite that she didn't want to pull away. The dark haired girl still remembered the night she had patched him up, his muffled whimpers of pain and the strong front he had displayed for her sake. Marinette also recalled their late night conversation in her darkened room, his admittance to the lack of warmth and love in his home life.

Despite the odd way her heart was beating, and the fact that it should make her feel guilty to feel anything like this for someone who wasn't Adrien, she didn't care. Chat Blanc was her friend, her best friend after Alya, and he was deprived of some much affection that it wouldn't be right to deny him what she could give him.

After a while the two friends pulled away from each other, though Marinette still kept close to him. "I'm happy that you're okay." She told him. "I don't ever want to see you hurt like that again." The pigtailed girl stated, her eyes becoming watery.

Chat looked at her with an apologetic expression. "I know, I'll be more careful next time." He promised her.

While his words did somewhat alleviate her current mood Marinette was still not completely satisfied. "I...I want you to promise me, that if you ever get hurt like that again, that you'll come straight here." The half Asian girl told him firmly. "I want you to know that this place is always open to you, you're always welcomed here. Even if I'm not here or awake, you can always come here."

The blond looked surprised at her speech but nodded as his lips turned into an appreciative grin. "Thanks, Marinette." He told her, happy to have her as his closest confidant.

The aspiring fashion designer smiled in response. "Don't mention it, minou. It's only proper that I take care of my favorite stray kitty."

Adrien smirked before moving closer, his face inches from her. He'd be lying if he claim that the redness of her cheeks didn't boost his ego somewhat. "I think that at this point, I'm not a stray kitty." He said, smirk still in place.

Marinette gulped as she felt her heart speed up slightly before smirking and returning the flirt. "Silly me, how could I forget." She said, becoming playful, before placing a kiss on his cheek. "You're my kitty." At the white clad hero becoming flustered with how quickly she turned the tables Marinette laughed. 'You're just a silly kitty, aren't you Chat?' She questioned in her mind as her heart continued beating a mile a minute.

Adrien cleared his throat before regaining his composure. "As long as you feed me and give me good pats." He joked earning a slight giggle from Marinette.

Looking at his bright yellow eyes and joking grin made Marinette want to scratch his exposed chin. And since he was in arm's length it was easy to give into the temptation "Only the best for you, Chaton." The blue haired girl told him while scratching his chin.

Adrien had to fight the urge to purr at the feeling of Marinette's fingers on his skin. With her scratching him he felt his body relaxing, as though his inner cat wanted to make himself known. Thankfully he was able to overcome the impulse and reluctantly pulled away. "Well my Dear, I'm afraid I must be going." He knew that it was pretty late and while he would love to spend more time with Marinette he shouldn't. 'We'll be tired enough the next morning as it is.' Chat thought to himself with a inner chuckle. Ever since he had started visiting her as his alter ego she had taken to arriving to class half asleep following one of his late night visits.

Marinette's expression gave way to slight disappointment that her super hero friend had to leave, but she understood. The hour was late and they both needed their rest. 'He'll be back, as long as I keep feeding him, he'll come back.' The dark haired girl nodded. "Goodnight, minou."

Chat smirked before taking her hand and placing a kiss on it. "Till next time, My Dear." He said before making to leave. His pigtailed friend watched his retreat until he was out of sight before heading back down.

* * *

The moment Adrien arrived home he knew something was amiss. Upon entering his bedroom he spotted his father sitting on his bed, arms crossed. Eyes wide Adrien dropped his transformation. "Father..." He spoke but was cut off as Gabriel raised a hand.

"I figured since you were still recovering that you wouldn't have gone out tonight." His words were admonishing there was a hidden amount of concern laced in them. "I haven't seen any akuma alerts, so I assume you weren't fighting."

Adrien recognized the unspoken question for what it was. "There was no trouble, I...I went to see Marinette, the one who helped me." His father nodded, indicating that he very well remembered the name of the girl who had helped his son during his time of need. "I wanted to let her know that I was okay, and I ended up staying at her place for awhile..." He trailed off.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at this. He knew that his son's alter ego's closest confidant was the Dupain-Cheng girl, but he didn't know exactly how close they were. He hadn't bothered to dig any deeper into their relationship since at the time he was still processing the fact that his son had gotten hurt. Deciding not to question his son on that he instead chose to say his piece.

"I see. Well then, while I am not forbidding you from your moonlighting, I do want to know when you leave." He held his hand back up, indicating to his son that he was not done speaking. "Even if I'm not around I expect to receive a message letting me know when you are leaving and where you plan on going." The fashion designer told his son, giving no room for argument.

Adrien frowned but nodded nonetheless. "Of course, father. I'm sorry." He said before averting his gaze.

Gabriel nodded, feeling that the conversation had ended. Pursing his lips he made to leave. "That will be all, Adrien." He said as he neared the door. Before leaving he glanced back at his son, his expression softened slightly. "Goodnight, son." He said before closing the door and walking away.

Gabriel Agreste continued walking the silent hallways of his home. Eventually his feet led him to the portrait of his wife, looking around he knew that he was alone. But one can never be too cautious, opening the safe hidden behind the painting he looked at the items inside. The book of miraculous, the photo of his wife, and the old inactive miraculous that he refused to give to the guardian.

Picking up the peacock brooch Gabriel held it between his fingers and closed his eyes as he thought of the kwami, the kwami who he could no longer work with. 'Ever since she left...' He sighed before placing it back in the safe and grabbing the framed photo of his wife. 'Is this what you had wanted? Was this really for the best?' He asked, not for the first time since she left. After a moment of staring at the face of the person he missed more than anything he placed the photo back.

Taking the book he flipped it open and rifled through it's pages. He saw the images of the Ladybug, the Black Cat, the Butterfly, and more. Coming to a page seemingly at random Gabriel stopped at the image of a white cat.

"Why did you decide to leave it for him?" The fashion designer asked, wishing to know what his wife had been thinking. Sadly with her gone there was no way of him receiving the answers he so desperately wanted, all he could do was stand behind his son and hope he'd be able to handle the upcoming difficulties.

If only he could still transform he would help his son, and these new heroes. While they were very much lacking in experience they more than made up for it with talent and an eagerness to improve. If he could turn into Paon again he could properly give them the mentor they could very much benefit from. Sadly that just wasn't in the cards.

He'd already failed as a father multiple times, but now that his son was the white cat he couldn't do much. "If only..." He echoed his earlier thoughts before turning back a couple pages and looking at the image of a peacock themed hero.

* * *

A lot of development I feel. We get some nice flirty banter between Chat and Marinette, which I must admit it was fun to write. I don't know when I'll have the next chapter out to be honest. When I posted the first chapter of this story I was actually nearly done writing this chapter, all I had to do was some edits before posting them. I'm only at the beginning of the next chapter but I hope that I can get it out soon.

As always, thanks for reading.


	6. A tale of two kitties

Gotta admit this chapter was a lot of fun to write. I really hope you all enjoy this one, because I sure did. Hopefully I'll be able to pump out the next chapter soon.

* * *

The White Cat

Part Six: A tale of two kitties

Chat Blanc frowned as he avoided the numerous playing cards that flew around his head. Despite them looking like average cards one might use in a poker game, these things were razor sharp. 'Not my card, not my card, not my card!' He thought to himself every time he narrowly avoided one.

Ducking and weaving past numerous flying cards he took cover behind one of the flipped tables. "This guys got magic cards, and magic hands..." The blond muttered as he watched Papillon's latest villain attacking the interior of the grand Paris hotel.

The Dandy man was a card player who had just been caught cheating at a nearby Texas hold 'em tournament. In the midst of his anger Papillon had targeted him. He was wearing a dark purple suit and jacket, adorned on his wrist were many playing cards. A top his head sat a nice little top hat with a playing card in it, it appeared to be the joker.

"Monsieur Blanc!" The akuma called out, addressing the lone white cat. "Are you a betting man?" He asked while shuffling a deck of cards.

Adrien frowned at the villain's query before shouting back. "I believe that's more your shtick." He peeked over his cover to see the card player was standing a fair distance away.

The card playing akuma gave an amused chuckle before responding. "I'd like to make a little bet with you, kitty cat." He informed the feline hero as he held up five cards. "I'll end you in one hand."

Chat Blanc scowled as he gripped his rapier tightly. "I'll take that bet, now hit me!" He shouted before jumping out of cover and breaking into a mad dash for the card player. He ducked and weaved around the cards that came for him, many of them narrowly cutting into his arms and legs. Somehow he managed to get in arms length of the Dandy man.

Lunging forward he made to stab the Dandy man only to falter as his sword went through the man's body. To his abject surprise the man's body dissolved into numerous playing cards. "So he can make clones of himself with cards?" That's annoying. Chat Blanc gritted his teeth together as he looked around.

The Dandy man reappeared, surrounded by a storm of clouds. He was shuffling the deck of cards in his hands. "How about a new game?" The akuma inquired, as though he were asking if they could play an actual game.

Adrien frowned as he turned to face the akuma, he was starting to get a little annoyed fighting this guy alone. 'Where are those two?' They should have been here minutes ago. "What kind of game?" He asked, curious as to what the Dandy man had up his sleeve. "We talking fifty-two pick up?" To be honest Adrien wasn't the best at card games, he never really had anyone to play with. 'And after this I don't I'll ever care to play these sorts of games...'

Dandy man chuckled, amused by the cat's guess. "No, I was thinking fifty-two cut up!" He said before throwing the cards in his hands after the white cat who quickly started dodging.

Thankfully the blond hero didn't have to wait too much longer for Black Cat and Coccinelle to make their appearance. Just as the Dandy man was about to throw more cards at the white blur that was Chat Blanc his wrist became tangled by a yoyo string. "Hope you don't mind some new players!" Black Cat shouted as he smacked the Dandy man in the face with his extended baton.

Chat Blanc smirked as he was finally allowed to catch his breath. "Might want to reshuffle and deal out the deck again." He suggested to the surprised akuma who was currently picking himself back up.

The Dandy man scoffed as he rubbed his sore cheek. "I think I'll just switch decks instead!" He said before sending numerous cards after the three heroes.

"This is not what I'd call pair-o-dice!" Chat's mouth was set in a grin as he called out to his two teammates, who both groaned before returning their focus to the akuma. "Okay, okay one more! You know why cat's don't play cards at the zoo? Because of all the cheetahs."

"And suddenly I'm regretting telling Adrien who we are." Alya muttered semi-jokingly, as she know had to hear his horrible jokes in and out of battle. "Chat, any idea where the akuma is?!" The spotted heroine asked, figuring he might know as he had been dealing with the villain the longest.

The yellowed eyed hero frowned before looking back at the akuma, who had remained mostly stationary. "I think it's the card in his top hat! But I'm not the best gambler so..." He trailed off.

Alya rolled her eyes as she used her yoyo to block a torrent of cards. "Whatever, it'll work for me" She muttered before dropping back to give herself some space. "Lucky Charm!" She shouted before throwing her yoyo up into the air. "Darts?" Alya questioned as a bundle of red and black spotted mini darts landed in her hand. "What in the world-?" She cut herself off as she tried to take in the scene before her.

Chat Blanc and Black Cat were both dodging and weaving past the cards, there were so many that they couldn't even get close to the Dandy man. 'And I've got like fifty darts...' Alya's eyes widened as she came up with an idea. "I got it!" She exclaimed before running forward. "As soon as you guys get an opening rush him for the item!" The red clad heroine commanded.

The pair of feline heroes spared a glance at her before nodding and returning their attention to the matter at hand.

With a grin Alya started throwing the darts in rapid succession, and with her Ladybug luck she managed to find her mark. Every dart she threw stabbed through a playing card, and once the air was clear Black Cat and Chat Blanc made a mad dash for the defenseless Dandy man. "I'm all in!" The blond hero felt the need to cry out.

Aiming his baton Black Cat extended it forward, with a cry he swung it hard and knocked off the Dandy man's top hat. Chat Blanc gripped his rapier and quickly sliced the hat, plus card, into ribbons. Coccinelle followed up by swinging her yoyo around to capture the little black butterfly that fluttered out. "Got ya!" She cried out before releasing it. "Goodbye little butterfly." She said before taking one of remaining spotted darts and throwing it up into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

After the shower of ladybugs washed over the city the three heroes gathered. "Great work yet again." Coccinelle said to Adrien and Nino as her earrings emitted a beep.

Chat Blanc looked between the two before gesturing for them to leave. "You guys get going, I'll tend to the victim this time." He told the couple who gave him thankful looks.

"Thanks Chat Blanc." The spotted heroine told the blond before turning to her boyfriend. "Let's go." She said to Black Cat before shooting her yoyo out as another beep sounded.

Black Cat grinned. "Right behind you babe!" He called out after her as he grabbed his baton. Turning back to Adrien he made a questioning face. "We're still on for the movies later, right?"

The blond nodded. "You know it, I just gotta go back up. Chloe's probably wondering what's taking me so long." When all of the trouble started he had been hanging out with the spoiled blonde up in her room. As far as she knew he was in the bathroom with an upset stomach.

The dark skinned hero chuckled at his friend's answer. "See ya later bro!" He said before chasing after his girl. On the inside he was grinning, Alya's latest plan for the four of them to meet up at the movies was back on track. 'Coincidently.' He reminded himself with an inner snicker.

* * *

Marinette watched as Manon played with three of her handcrafted dolls, she couldn't help but smile as she watched the younger girl pit Black Cat against the latest doll she had made, Evillustrator. The dark haired girl smiled as she remembered her involvement with that incident. While it had been scary at first, she was thankful that Chat Blanc had been there to keep her safe.

Suddenly her phone vibrated, indicating that someone had just texted her. The dark haired girl turned her attention away from Manon to quickly respond to the message.

{Hey I'm on my way, you almost ready?}

Marinette frowned as she looked at the time, in about five minutes she'd be done babysitting. 'Mrs. Chamack should be here soon.' The pigtailed girl told herself as she sent her reply.

{I'm still watching Manon, her mom is on her way to pick her up. Probably be ready in about 15 mins.}

She placed her phone down before turning to the young girl. "Okay Manon, how about we play one last game before your mom gets back?" The blue eyed teen suggested to the younger girl who looked at her excitedly.

"Oh, oh can I play Coccinelle?" The tanned girl asked excitedly.

Marinette looked at the doll of the spotted heroine in question before chuckling and handing her the doll. Pulling out a couple more dolls of akuma victims they began their game. Manon had Coccinelle in one hand and Evillustrator in another, while Marinette had Chat Blanc along with Black Cat in her right hand and Stormy weather in her left.

"I'm right here you guys!" Marinette said, doing an impression of her blond superhero friend. "Thank goodness your here, man." She said, shifting her voice to try and sound like how Black Cat sounded. "We couldn't do this without you." The pigtailed teen said, before switching back to Chat Blanc's voice. "Of course not, I am the Cat's Meow after all." She said while suppressing a giggle as she thought about Chat Blanc.

Manon frowned, not impressed. "He shouldn't say that." She said, cutting Marinette away from her amusement.

Marinette looked at her curiously. "No?" She asked causing the little girl to shake her head in displeasure. The dark haired girl nodded before clearing her throat. "Come on, man. Now's not the time to be goofing off. We gotta catch the bad guy's akuma before..." She made a thoughtful expression. "What do the bad guys want?" She asked Manon who looked at her curiously.

Manon looked confused for a second before looking at the Stormy Weather doll in her off hand. "Umm..." She sounded out before coming up with what she felt was the correct answer. "We want to win!" She said before holding the weather themed villain up to Marinette's face.

Marinette made an amused smile at Manon's answer. "But what do they want to win?" She asked causing the little girl to claim that she didn't know.

Manon shrugged, unable to answer. "What do they usually want?" The brown haired girl asked unsurely.

Marinette clicked her tongue in thought. "Depends." She answered before pointing at Stormy Weather. "Stormy Weather wanted to be the best weather girl, Evillustrator wanted revenge on a girl who humiliated him." She explained before glancing at the Chat Blanc doll in her hand. 'And you were angry at your father for treating you badly.' Marinette couldn't say, not because she wasn't allowed to but because she didn't feel that anyone else should be made aware of such a thing without Chat Blanc's permission.

Marinette pushed away such thoughts before returning her attention to Manon. "But the evil Papillon who makes all these bad guys wants to take the heroes jewels from them." She said while placing the dolls in her hands on the ground. "The miraculous'" The dark haired girl whispered while gesturing with her hands.

"What would happen if he did win?" The young girl asked, honestly curious.

Marinette's expression became slightly dark as she thought about the three heroes being defeated, something she hoped never happened. "Then the bad guys would win."

"I know what the bad guys want!" Manon claimed excitedly, returning to their earlier game. Picking Stormy Weather back up she started speaking. "I want the miraculous! Us bad guys will take them, and we'll win. Then you'll be really, really sorry!"

Marinette held back an amused giggle at Manon returning to playtime so suddenly. "You won't get the miraculous, so easily." She said, holding up the Chat Blanc and Black Cat dolls.

Manon laughed joyously as she and Marinette started hitting the dolls against each other. The dark haired teen hit the Chat Blanc and Black Cat dolls against the Stormy Weather doll in Manon's hand. At the same time Manon hit the Coccinelle doll against the Evillustrator. After a few moments more of play time the dolls of former akumas hit the floor and the game was over.

"The heroes of Paris win yet again!" Marinette claimed excitedly, causing Manon to celebrate while continuing to play with the Coccinelle doll.

Once Manon had calmed down from their game she sighed, looking at the well crafted doll in her hand. "I wish I could take these with me..." She muttered sadly, looking at her babysitter.

Marinette seeing Manon's slightly dejected expression frowned before looking at the doll in the child's hand. Chuckling under her breath she patted the girl's head. "If you want, you can take that doll home to play with. Just as long as you bring it back the next time I watch you." She promised the younger girl, causing Manon's expression to brighten.

"Yay!" She cried out as a woman wearing a dark blue blazer entered Marinette's room from downstairs.

"I'm back Manon." Hearing the voice of her mother caused Manon to momentarily forget about Marinette letting her keep the doll.

"Mommy!" She cried out, running over to give the short haired woman a hug.

Mrs. Chamack chuckled at her daughter before rubbing her head. "Were you good for Marinette?" She asked the younger girl who looked up at her.

"Of course I was!" The young girl claimed before looking at the doll in her hand. "Mommy, look at what Marinette gave me. She said I could take it home." Mrs. Chamack made a slightly displeased expression at seeing the Ladybug themed doll in her daughter's hand.

"I said that she could borrow it for awhile." Marinette piped in, letting Manon's mom know that her daughter had her permission to take it.

Mrs. Chamack offered the teen an appreciative smile before shaking her head. "That's sweet of you, Marinette. But Manon has so many toys that she doesn't even play with, I'm worried it would get lost." She explained before bending down to her daughter's level.

Realizing that her mother was going to take the doll from her Manon tried to retain her grip on it, which was a mistake. When the mother and daughter ended up pulling on the doll at the same time a resounding rip was heard as the doll's left arm was torn off.

Mrs. Chamack furrowed her brow at the tiny arm held between her fingers. Looking at her daughter, who's expression had given way to regret, she scolded her. "Look what you've done, Manon. " She said before holding her empty hand out. "Give me the doll." She ordered her daughter, who relinquished the doll with no more arguing.

Turning to the fifteen year old the young woman offered her an apologetic smile. "I am so sorry, Marinette." She said, prompting the pigtailed girl to cut her off.

"Oh, it's no big deal." Marinette said while accepting the doll from Mrs. Chamack. "I can sew it back up easily enough." She assured the older woman with a small smile.

The young mother appeared relieved by this information. "Oh thank goodness." She said before taking her daughter's hand. "Come on Manon, say goodbye to Marinette."

It seemed this was the perfect time for Manon to throw a tantrum. "No, I want that doll!" She said, raising her voice to her mother who looked at her with an admonishing look.

"No." Her mother responded firmly. "You can play with it here, the next time I drop you off." She promised, causing the young girl to start crying. Wordlessly she picked her sobbing daughter up. "Come on, now. Say goodbye to Marinette." She told her for the last time.

Manon's only response was to continue crying, prompting her mother to carry her downstairs. Marinette waved the mother and child away with an uneasy smile before dropping into her computer chair and rolling over to her desk to work on patching up the Coccinelle doll.

Marinette heard her cell phone begin vibrating, picking it up she answered the call and placed it between her shoulder and ear. "Hey Alya." She greeted her best friend as she got to work.

"Hey girl, I'm downstairs. Is it alright for me to head up, or are you still babysitting the little angel?" The glasses wearing girl asked, chuckling under her breath as she remembered how easily Marinette would cave into Manon's wants.

Marinette rolled her eyes at Alya's amusement. "You can head up, Mrs. Chamack just arrived to take Manon home." She explained.

"Okay, I'm coming up." The red haired girl told her before hanging up.

The call disconnected, Marinette returned her phone to her desk to dedicate her full concentration to finishing her work. She was just finishing up as a pair of footsteps drew her attention, turning in her seat she noticed Manon. "Manon, what are you doing?" She asked, confused by the younger girl's reappearance.

The tanned girl pointed over to a spot by Marinette's chaise. "I left my bag." She explained simply enough before running over and grabbing it. Picking up a random toy of hers she placed it in the bag before looking at the doll Marinette was in the middle of repairing. "Can I have Coccinelle?" The brown haired girl questioned innocently.

Marinette frowned, not wanting to say no but being unable to. 'Her mom said it wasn't okay.' She reminded herself as she told Manon this.

"She won't know if I hide it." The younger girl persisted, making Marinette's resolve weaken.

"Sorry, but I don't think..." She trailed off as Manon's eyes widened and became watery. 'Oh no...' The teen thought to herself predicting what Manon was going to do next. "Not the baby doll eyes!" She said in horror, feeling herself cave.

Seeing the younger girl on the verge of tears, even though Marinette knew it was played up, made the dark haired girl give in. "Okay, okay. You can take her." Marinette said as she quickly finished putting the last stitch into the doll's arm and handing it over to Manon.

The tanned girl cried out joyously as she accepted the doll. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said before hugging the older girl who looked down at her in surprise before placing a hand on her head.

"Hurry up, Manon! We have to stop by the station!" The two girls heard Manon's mother call up from downstairs.

Manon detached herself from the older girl before stuffing the doll into her bag and zipping it up. "Coming mommy!" She called out before quickly making her way back down.

Marinette sighed as she sank back into her seat now that Manon was gone. She didn't mind watching Mrs. Chamack's daughter, but she could be a real handful sometimes. Moments later Alya had entered her room and the pair were leaving her house to make for the train station to catch their movie on time.

* * *

Alya found herself laughing as Marinette finished detailing the latter half of her babysitting event. "I swear girl, that kid has you so whipped it's not even funny." The glasses wearing girl teased, causing Marinette to roll her eyes as she looked at her phone.

"Okay, okay. If you're done teasing me." Marinette said with a half-hearted glare. "The movie starts in thirty minutes, so I was thinking we could either catch that showing or go get your book and go to a later one." She explained.

"Nine o'clock." Alya said causing Marinette to frown in confusion.

"There's no nine o'clock showing." Also she didn't want to be out that late...

"No, not that nine o'clock I mean this nine o'clock." She said, turning her best friend's gaze to further down the platform to reveal Adrien and Nino both boarding the subway train.

"Adrien..." Marinette muttered, watching her crush enter the train. Even though they had finally managed to progress to the point where she didn't immediately hide the moment she saw him she couldn't ignore the flutter in her chest at seeing the kind boy.

"Come on!" Alya exclaimed as she dragged the love struck girl onto the same train. A couple of the passengers looked at the two girls in annoyance at their abrupt entrance but no one said anything and instead returned to their own devices.

Marinette breathed a sigh as she stood up and looked through the window into the next cart. "What are the odds that we would happen to cross paths with Adrien and your boyfriend?" Marinette asked, crossing her arms and looking at the red haired girl who smiled sheepishly.

Alya chuckled. "Okay, so Nino and I might have decided to work together, but hey you should be thanking us." She said jokingly.

Marinette lost her stern expression before a smile adorned her face. "Oh, trust me I am. Though I would have at least liked a warning in advance, you know just to prepare myself." Plus she wouldn't have minded knowing to spruce herself up a little bit more.

It was at that point that Nino decided to point out Alya and Marinette's presence in the next cart over. The blond turned to see the girls, a mildly surprised look on his face. After a moment he offered a friendly smile and waved at them.

Marinette felt her cheeks flush a bright red as Alya returned the wave. After a moment she awkwardly raised her hand up in the form of a weak greeting.

Before anything could be said a white flash suddenly filled the train car that Marinette and Alya were on. "Wha-?" Alya cried out as the light traveled up her body. "I didn't say Spots On!" She cried out as the light engulfed her.

Adrien and Nino watched in astonishment as Alya was replaced by Coccinelle. Marinette stepped back at the sudden appearance of one of Paris' heroes. "C-Coccinelle?" She asked dubiously. Now that she looked at her she did notice some similarities between her and Alya. 'But...' What was going on.

"No!" Alya cried out childishly. "I'm Puppeteer, and I want those dolls now!"

"Puppeteer?" Marinette looked even more confused by Alya's temper tantrum. "Dolls? I don't have them. They're at home." She told the possessed hero. "Why do you want them?" She asked, baffled at what this Puppeteer would want her dolls for.

"Because, you said I could have them!" Alya's voice claimed. "But mommy said no! So give them to me now, or you'll be really, really sorry." The teenage girl said, echoing Manon's earlier phrase.

Marinette's blue eyes widened as she realized what had happened. "Manon..." She muttered, unable to comprehend that the little girl she often watched had been turned into a villain.

"I want the miraculous! So I can win, forever and ever!" She cried out as the train came to a stop and the doors opened. Pulling the yoyo from her hip she tossed it out and swung away from the train as Marinette exited the train after her and watched her retreat.

"Manon!" The pigtailed girl called after her, worried for the younger girl. "Oh this is bad." She whispered to herself, feeling helpless to help the little girl she usually babysat. She didn't even have time to wonder about the implications of Alya turning into Coccinelle by Puppeteer's magic, but in the back of her mind she knew that that meant.

Nino and Adrien ran to the front of the train. "Hey, uh. There's a stray cat on the train!" The blond quickly informed the driver, prompting the older man to run away to check on the situation.

"A cat, really?" Plagg asked as he exited Nino's pocket before being joined by a white cat kwami who gave him an eye roll.

"Time to transform." Nino said as he looked in the direction that Alya had just left. His expression had hardened, he was worried for his girlfriend/partner.

"And here I was looking forward to the popcorn..." Plagg muttered before being sucked into Nino's ring.

"Tigga, Fang's Bared!" Adrien was engulfed in a light as Chat Blanc took his place.

"Dude, I'm going straight after Alya, you should see if Marinette's alright!" The dark skinned youth said before rushing after his girlfriend.

Chat Blanc watched Black Cat go for a moment before jogging over to Marinette, who currently had a stressed expression marring her pretty face. "Marinette!" He called out to her, causing the girl to look up.

Marinette felt herself becoming relieved at seeing the blond hero. "Chat Blanc! Thank goodness you're here." She said, happy to know her friend/hero was already on the job. "The akuma's name is Puppeteer, she's actually Manon, a girl I often babysit. She just turned my friend Alya into Coccinelle and is trying to get the rest of the dolls from my room." She explained quickly, trying to give her hero friend as much information as she could.

"Dolls?" He questioned.

Marinette nodded. "I haven't shown them to you yet, but I made some dolls of Coccinelle and Black Cat, I even made some based off of akumas. Manon loves playing with them." She informed him. "And I think she used the Coccinelle doll I lent her to turn Alya into " The dark haired girl trailed off, as she still wasn't ready to give thought onto the fact that her best friend was Coccinelle.

Chat found himself grinning, despite the situation. 'Wow that's awesome,' He really would like to see the dolls his talented seamstress friend had made. "Have you made one of me?" The blond questioned, causing the pigtailed girl to roll her eyes at him. "Right, right, now's not the time." He said before taking her wrist. "Come on, let's head to your place, we need to stop Manon before she can get the rest of those dolls."

"W-We?" The pigtailed girl questioned Chat bringing her back home, where an akuma was.

The white clad hero nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure you're worried about Manon, not to mention your parents are most likely still there." He figured she'd want to be there.

The blue eyed girl looked at him, appreciating his thoughtfulness. Nodding in response she accepted him pulling her along. "Okay, Chat Blanc. Let's go!" She said before the pair quickly left the subway station and making for the rooftops. The blond hero jumped from roof to roof as he held the petite girl in his arms.

* * *

Landing on her balcony Adrien sat Marinette down. "Wait here." He could already hear the sound of Black Cat and Coccinelle struggling in the room below them. "I'll be back up once it's safe." He promised before going to help his friend.

The scene he came upon was not the most favorable. Coccinelle's yoyo was flying all around the room, the sharp wire making it nearly impossible to maneuver as she fended off Black Cat with one arm. Normally it shouldn't be too difficult for the black cat themed hero, but he was going up against his girlfriend and he didn't want to hurt her.

Chat Blanc moved to help Black Cat only to be knocked down as Nino was flung into him. To their twin horror they watched Coccinelle jump through the skyline in order to make her escape.

Marinette, not being able to completely stay away from the action had watched as Coccinelle leaped out of her room. Gritting her teeth she rushed her brain washed best friend and grabbed at the satchel on Coccinelle's hip. Unfortunately she wasn't able to rip it away from her, but in the struggle one of the dolls did fall out.

Puppeteer must have grown annoyed with Marinette's attempt to stop her, as she made Coccinelle shove the weaker girl away, making her hit the railing on her balcony. The pigtailed girl groaned as she slowly returned to her feet, to her dismay the controlled Coccinelle had already made her getaway. She could see the spotted heroine swinging away in the direction of the news station.

Breathing heavily she looked down to see the lone doll her efforts had spared. She smiled upon picking up the mini version of her white clad friend. "Of course it'd be Chat Blanc." The dark haired girl muttered thankfully to herself with a weak chuckle.

"Marinette!" Adrien called out as he made for the roof, followed by Black Cat. The two feline themed heroes rushed to make sure she was unharmed. "Are you alright?" He asked her, while placing a hand on her back.

The dark haired girl rubbed her shoulder, which had banged against the railing, hearing Chat Blanc's question she looked up to see him looking down worriedly at her. Offering the blond hero a weak smile she nodded. "I'm okay." She assured him as he helped her to her feet.

Chat Blanc nodded before looking over at Black Cat who had turned his attention in the direction that the controlled Coccinelle had just left. Frowning he walked over to his best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey man, it'll be okay. We'll save her and get the akuma." He promised, causing the dark skinned youth to look at him.

Nino sighed. "I don't know dude, we're on a bit of a time table here. The moment she gets those dolls and we're going to become puppets." He reminded the blond who's face paled a little.

"Great..." He muttered. Adrien pursed his lips, they were really in trouble here.

Marinette frowned as she presented the doll she had rescued. "Well, at the very least I did manage to save one doll." She told the two.

Adrien looked at Marinette, his expression going from shocked to amazed. "Oh man, Marinette you are awesome!" He said, impressed that his friend had managed such a feat.

The blue haired girl grinned as the white hero celebrated her accomplishment. Turning to the dark skinned cat she made an apologetic face. "Sorry I couldn't save yours..." She said regrettably.

Nino looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, right now I'm more worried about saving Alya."

Hearing the name of her best friend seemed to make something inside Marinette click. "Alya...She's Coccinelle." She left the statement hanging. 'And since Alya's dating Nino and Coccinelle is dating Black Cat.' It was rather easy to piece together who the person standing before her was.

Black Cat's lips turned into a bitter smile as he dropped his transformation. "Yeah, she and I have been heroes this entire time. Honestly it's been pretty tight." He told the blue eyed girl who looked slightly surprised at him revealing himself to her so suddenly.

Marinette wasn't surprised by who was under the mask, especially after learning that Alya was everyone's favorite spotted heroine. 'But still, actually seeing it...' She mumbled in thought. "Ugh, I was not ready for this day." She said, prompting the blond cat to place a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think any of us were." Chat Blanc told her, prompting her to meet his yellow eyes. "But hey, the cat had to come out of the bag at some point." He said with a chuckle.

Marinette groaned out loud as she briefly wondered who was behind her blond friend's mask. During the whole time she had been Chat Blanc's friend she had thought about who the boy behind the mask was. What did he do during his day to day life? She knew that he came from a somewhat oppressive home and had few friends. She knew he loved stupid jokes and video games. Marinette had even challenged and whooped him at UMSIII a couple times during his late night visits.

She inwardly giggled as she remembered his excuse for losing. "It's these claws, it makes it so hard to play!" He had whined, causing her to tell him to get good.

She didn't even know this boy's real name and he had become so important to her. While she did want to respect his privacy by not asking, a part of her wanted to know who he was. Maybe they could actually hang out without him having the cat ears, he could meet her parents. 'And then they could tease me mercilessly.' She thought to herself, though for some reason that prospect didn't bother her nearly as much as it should have.

"We need to devise a plan to save Alya." Marinette said, forcing the two boys to adopt serious expressions.

Nino nodded, very much ready to save Alya. 'But...' He looked at the ring on his finger as Plagg floated onto his shoulder. "Plagg." He looked over at the little kwami who was in the middle of eating a wedge of camembert.

Marinette snapped her blue eyes to the little dark creature on her hat wearing friend's shoulder. 'Oh...my...god...' She thought as she watched him float. "He's so cute!" She couldn't help but squeal as she reached over to pet the little kwami.

Plagg looked surprised at Marinette's outburst but suddenly became relaxed as she started petting him. After a moment a rumbling purr started escaping him. Twin looks of surprise met her as Nino and Adrien watched Marinette doll out affection to the kwami.

"Geeze, your like putty in her hand..." Nino muttered as Adrien briefly recalled the time Marinette had patted him. His cheeks tinted ever so slightly before he cleared his throat.

"We need to focus." Chat Blanc reminded the group who quickly returned to the task at hand.

"Yeah, Alya could already be handing those dolls over." Nino stated, his features becoming somber.

"Alya..." Marinette mumbled as she stopped petting the kwami.

Adrien frowned as fiddled with the buckler on his left arm. Walking away from the two he sighed. "This is bad, once Puppeteer gets her hands on those dolls Nino will be on her side." Not to mention the other akumas that Marinette had brought to doll form.

Nino looked at the ring on his finger before glancing up at Marinette, who Plagg had yet to leave. An idea struck him, it was somewhat crazy, but it could work. 'Besides I'll probably be controlled before we can even get there.' He told himself before slipping off the ring and presenting it to Marinette. "Here." He told her, offering his miraculous.

Adrien turned at hearing his best friend speak before watching wide eyed as Nino held out the black cat miraculous. "Wh-what are you doing?" He questioned, surprised at the dark skinned youth's actions.

Marinette was also looking at Nino as though he had grown an extra head. 'What is he?'

Nino frowned before explaining. "That akuma's going to turn me into a puppet, probably before we even get there. But if I let Marinette use my miraculous, temporarily, at the very least you'll have an ally."

Marinette squeaked at Nino's suggestion. "N-no, no, no! I can't be a hero, I wouldn't even know what to do!" She cried out, a part of her feeling that she was not cut out for this sort of thing.

Nino shook his head. "Marinette, I didn't know what to do the day I was given this ring, it just showed up in my room one day and poof, suddenly I could climb walls and destroy stuff with a touch. If I can do it, so can you. And right now I need you to. A-Chat Blanc can't fight these guys on his own, he's going to need someone to watch his back, and I trust you."

Adrien remained silent the whole time Nino gave his speech, but by the end he was convinced. Nodding he made his verbal agreement. "Nino's right, I can't take them alone." Sure he had his Nine Lives skill, but that would only do him good for five minutes. "I will need someone to help me, and like Nino I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have watching my back." He still remembered how Marinette, at least an alternate Marinette had saved him from Timebreaker. 'Marinette can be a hero, no problem.' Were his thoughts. He had the utmost confidence in her.

The blue eyed girl still looked majorly unsure, but she did accept the ring. "I..." She was cut off as Chat Blanc placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright." He promised her. "I'll have your back, as long as you have mine. You'll be great." The blond hero assured her.

His words seemed to be enough to give her some piece of mind. Hesitantly she nodded. "Okay, I'll try." She promised before slipping the ring onto one of her fingers. 'Huh, it actually fits...' She was mildly surprised by that. "So how do I do this?" She wondered.

Plagg landed on her head before giving a little explanation. "It's rather easy. You just say Claws Out to transform, Claws In to change back. Also your power is Cataclysm, but remember after you use it you have five minutes before your transformation breaks." He made sure she knew what she was getting into.

Plagg examined this girl for a moment. 'She's compatible with my powers.' More compatible than he would have figured. 'If I had been able to choose Adrien like I had initially intended, she would have made an excellent Ladybug.' He thought to himself, amazed at the potential he could feel from this girl. It as if she were destined to be a miraculous user.

Marinette nodded as took a deep breath. "Okay then, Claws Out!" She cried out before being engulfed in an emerald light.

Where Marinette stood now was Chat Noire, her suit was similar to Nino's but zipped up all the way. The leather suit hugged her curves very well, and her hair turned a shade darker. Instead of green glowing eyes on her mask she had sapphire. "Wow..." She muttered looking down at her claws. 'Not really digging the bell though...' She thought to herself as she flicked it once. On her hip was Black Cat's trusty baton.

Adrien gulped as he watched the light fade away to reveal Marinette in the skin tight suit. 'I won't lie, she looks adorable in that.' He thought, cheeks flushed. Discretely he lifted his buckler to operate the camera function and snap a photo or two.

Nino looked at the newly transformed girl with an appraising look. "Awesome. Now it might be a good idea if you two dudes tied me up. Maybe slow me down a little after Puppeteer gets control of me." He suggested to the two feline heroes. Chat Blanc nodded, finding his idea to be a sound one, even if he didn't like having to be forced to restrain his friend.

They didn't have any access to rope, but Marinette did have an abundance of yarn, the two feline heroes quickly went about tangling Nino's limbs around it. "Maybe when you transformed again you start playing with it instead?" Adrien jokingly said, causing Nino to try and playfully smack him.

Once his bonds were secure Chat Noire and Chat Blanc went back up to the roof. Marinette slipped the baton off of her hip and looked at it. "How do I work this thing." She questioned as she fiddled with it. Suddenly she heard a ringing coming from Chat Blanc's wrist.

Chat looked down at his buckler to see an image of Marinette, transformed, appear on the screen.

Grinning he turned to Marinette. "Sorry I gotta take this." He told her before answering the call. "Hello you beautiful kitty, meow." The twin tailed cat heard her blond friend's smooth voice echo out of the baton.

"Oh, ha ha." She sarcastically said before disconnecting the call. "Now show me how to work this thing." She ordered, pushing her finger to his nose. If anyone pointed out the pinkness of her cheeks, they were mistaken. So she would say.

Chat Blanc smirked as he playfully batted her finger away. "Okay, okay." He said with a light grin. "It's the other button. The longer you hold it down the fur-ther it will extend." The white clad hero explained what Nino had once told him

Chat Noire looked down at the silver baton before pushing the other button, she jumped slightly as it grew longer. Taking a nervous breath she gave a nonverbal que to let Chat Blanc know that she was ready.

The two feline themed heroes leapt into the air, Marinette's movements were a little clumsy at first, but with the extending baton and her friend by her side she slowly became more confident with her leaps. It didn't take very long for the pair of feline heroes to arrive at the news station.

* * *

The two feline heroes ran through the front door and kept on running until they came across a set of red doors. On the other side they could hear Manon/Puppeteer's voice calling to life the dolls she had captured. "I have a bad feline about this." Chat Blanc muttered as he and Marinette backed up, poised to kick the door open.

The dark haired girl offered him a nervous look before trying to be encouraging. "We got this, as long as we work together."

Chat Blanc looked at her for a second before smiling. "Right, then let's do this." He said before the two, in sync, ran forward and kicked opened the door.

Coming to a stop they saw a little girl wearing a glowing light blue and black dress. Her hair was done up in drill shaped pigtails and she had a black mask on and a glowing wand in her hand. Floating before her was the doll of Black Cat.

"Manon!" Marinette couldn't help but cry out at seeing the warped form of the girl she usually babysat.

Puppeteer turned to scowl at her. "I'm not Manon! I'm Puppeteer!" She shouted before looking at the unfamiliar black cat as a butterfly shaped outline appeared over her face. "And who are you? Where's Black Cat?! He should be under my control by now!"

Marinette faltered for a moment before feeling Chat Blanc discreetly nudge her side. Peeking a glance at him she met his eyes and after a brief instant smiled. Turning her attention back on Manon her lips curved up into a smirk. "I'm...I'm Chat Noire. Black Cat's taking a break, so I tagged in."

Chat Blanc grinned as he drew his rapier. "Sorry, but there's no dolls yet created to capture her beautiful image. You'll just have to try and take the miraculous the old fashion way." He told the little girl who scowled at him.

Suddenly the doors behind them were thrown open yet again as two familiar faces entered, lead by Coccinelle. "Alya..." Marinette muttered as she focused on her best friend.

Coccinelle placed a hand on her hip and gestured to the two behind her. "Evillustrator, Stormy Weather, take Chat Noire's miraculous, so we can win!"

The two controlled villains cried out before rushing the pair of heroes. "Crap!" Chat Blanc called out as he blocked Stormy Weather's umbrella.

Chat Noire was forced to duck out of the way as a huge cannonball, created by Evillustrator sailed over her head. Looking at the red haired akuma she saw that a large cannon, with a now smoking barrel, had materialized in front of him. Grabbing her baton she extended it and charged after him before having to jump out of the way of Coccinelle's yoyo.

Chat Blanc tried to keep on the offensive with Stormy Weather by dishing out a flurry of blows. He was trying to keep her from using her weather based abilities, and was succeeding until she ducked out of the way of his sword and landed a hit to his head. Pushing him back she aimed her weapon at him and fired a torrent of harsh wind that blew him into Chat Noire.

"Ah!" The blond cried out as he and Chat Noire became a pile of tangled limbs. Quickly separating themselves from each other they stood back up and faced their respective adversary.

"Got a plan?" Marinette asked her blond friend as they stood back to back. While she could come up with a couple ideas she was still new to this, and felt it best to deter to the more experienced fighter.

Adrien shook his head. "Not really, I usually left the plan making to Coccinelle or Black Cat. But I am a pun maker." He said causing Chat Noire to roll her blue eyes.

"Seriously?"

Chat Blanc sighed. "Yeah." He said before taking a defensive stance. 'Well there always is...' He looked down at his ring. "The best I can come up with is maybe using my power, that could give us an opening to go after Puppeteer." He suggested.

Marinette's eyes narrowed in thought, finding little issue with his plan she nodded. "I'm up for it." She said looking between the blond hero and the floating little girl, who had been watching them the whole time. 'When Chat and I rush her while his clones take care of the others then I'll use my baton to knock the wand out of her hand.' Then it'd be a matter of Chat Blanc making a break for the wand and destroying it before Puppeteer could retrieve it.

"Nine Lives!" Chat Blanc called out as he held his sword up. Suddenly there were nine of him, eight of his clones turned to face the two controlled akumas and Coccinelle with their weapons held up.

"En garde!" One of them shouted before leading the other seven to overwhelm the three surprised minions.

Chat Noire turned on her heel to face Puppeteer. "Chat Blanc, go after the wand. Its where the akuma is." She was certain, aiming her baton she held the button down and watched it shoot forward.

Chat Blanc was already sprinting towards Puppeteer, who was trying to blast him with white blue blast of energy. With his buckler held up he blocked the attacks and watched Marinette's baton extend past him and knock the wand out of Puppeteer's hand.

"No!" The little girl shouted as she tried to go after it, only to be whacked by Chat Noire's long staff.

"Got ya!" Chat Blanc cried out as he nabbed the wand and snapped it in half. The black butterfly fluttered out and Puppeteer's controlled victims regained their senses.

Coccinelle rubbed her head as she took in her new surroundings. "Where am I?" She questioned as the last thing she remembered was riding the train with Marinette and seeing Adrien and Nino. Looking down at her still transformed self she frowned. "And why am I still transformed?"

"No time!" Chat Blanc shouted before pointing. "Get the akuma!" Coccinelle's head snapped up and with the flick of her wrist she shot her yoyo forth.

With expert skill Alya captured the butterfly and released it once it was pure. "Goodbye little butterfly." She said before activating her Miraculous Ladybug.

"Bien Joue!" Chat Blanc said as he held his fist out for Marinette. The dark haired girl looked at him in surprise before returning his grin and meeting his fist with hers. Suddenly his ring beeped, causing him to look down at it. "Shoot, I gotta go. I'll see you later, Princess." The white clad hero told her before making a break for it.

Marinette watched him run off as she looked around the rest of the room. The former akuma victims were still regaining their wits, and Manon was now wrapped in a tight embrace by her mother.

Alya, still transformed approached her. "Who are you?" The person in front of her looked like Black Cat, but there were many differences. The most obvious being that this Black Cat was female and had dark hair tied in pig tails.

Chat Noire met her the red haired girl's gaze before smiling. "It's me, Alya." She said, figuring that her best friend would recognize her voice.

Coccinelle's eyes widened in surprise at this person knowing her identity. "How do you know who I am?" The spotted heroine demanded as she took a defensive stance.

Chat Noire looked surprised at her best friend's reaction. "No, no I'm Marinette. Nino gave me his miraculous before Puppeteer could take control of him." The pigtailed cat heroine hastily explained as she raised her hands in defense.

Alya cocked a brow at hearing the pigtailed heroine claim to be her best friend. "Marinette?" She whispered in astonishment as she looked over the black leather clad girl.

Before the pigtailed could could respond they were approached by Manon's mother who offered her thanks. "Thank you so much for saving my daughter." The red haired woman expressed to the two heroines.

Alya, recovering, gestured to the black clad girl next to her. "I didn't do anything." She informed the newscaster, not wanting to take credit for a feat she didn't do. "It was all her and Chat Blanc."

The woman looked surprised at noticing Black Cat's very changed appearance. "I could have sworn Black Cat was a boy?" She stated, puzzled.

Marinette nodded her head in response. "He is, he just let me borrow his miraculous. Because he was...uh hurt and he needed someone to help Chat Blanc." She said, partially lying.

Mrs. Chamack looked intriged by this. "I didn't realize others could use the miraculous so easily. Would you care to do an interview to tell me what it's like?" She asked, curious to learn more.

Marinette made an apologetic experssion. "Sorry Mrs. Ch-er ma'am. But I got to go and return this to Black Cat." Marinette said as she tried to get away.

Mrs. Chamack didn't follow her, but she did call out. "What do we call you?" She wanted to know, for when the news detailed the events of this girl's exploits alongside Chat Blanc.

Marinette hesitated before turning back to look at the young mother. "You can call me Chat Noire." She told her before leaving, followed by Alya.

Marinette and Alya quickly made their way to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Thankfully her parents were both downstairs in the bakery so they wouldn't be distributed while talking.

* * *

Marinette allowed her transformation to drop as her feet touched the roof of her home before catching the little kwami on her palm. "Cheese..." Plagg moaned as Marinette offered an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Plagg. I don't have any on me right this second." She would need to go down to the kitchen to get some.

"Plagg, you know Nino will have some for you." An unfamiliar high pitched voice chimed in.

Marinette turned to look, at the source of the voice, to see a red creature the same size as Plagg. The little creature blinked up at her before smiling. "Hi. I'm Tikki."

Marinette, finding the red creature to be just as cute as Plagg, smiled back. "I'm Marinette."

The little red creature giggled. "Oh I know exactly who you are Marinette." Tikki told her before grinning. "I'm with Alya all the time, so I've seen a lot of you."

"Gotta admit, I can see why she was your first choice." Plagg said, cutting into Tikki's introduction to Marinette.

The little red creature glared at Plagg before looking at the two girls who wore matching expressions of confusion. "First choice?" Alya echoed the kwami of destruction's words.

Plagg nodded. "When Tikki and I were awakened to combat Papillon we both had to chose two people. Tikki originally picked bluebell over here, and I picked-."

"Plagg!" Tikki squeaked indignantly "That's enough!" She said, raising her voice.

Plagg made a displeased face. "Come on, what's the harm of telling them the truth? If it weren't for Chat Blanc having had the white cat miraculous we wouldn't have had to chose different people?" Really he didn't understand what her deal was sometimes.

Tikki looked very much annoyed at Plagg sprouting things that did not need to be told. Alya however had a slightly crestfallen look on her face. "I...I wasn't your first choice?" She questioned, her voice slightly timid.

The red kwami looked away from her other half before becoming concerned for her holder. "Alya, no, no that's not how it works." She said, moving to quickly explain. "The Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous work as a pair. If both users aren't compatible then it won't work properly. There needs to be balanced. When Plagg couldn't chose A-Chat Blanc, he had to chose someone with just as much potential, that someone was Nino. And you were most compatible with Nino, so you were chosen as the holder of the Ladybug miraculous." Tikki summarized, capping off her lengthy explanation.

Alya looked off to the side in thought as Marinette spoke up. "I...I was almost Coccinelle?" She asked, causing Tikki to turn to look back at her.

Frowning the ladybug themed kwami nodded. "When Chat Blanc was unviable for Plagg I had to chose someone who would work the best with Nino." She explained thusly. "While you and Chat Blanc were fighting you might have noticed, but the two of you should have worked really well off of one another. That's because you're meant for each other." Alya glanced at her kwami, finding that sentence interesting.

"Meant for each other?" Marinette questioned. "Li-Like meant for each other meant for each other?" She asked.

Understanding Marinette's subtle question Tikki shook her head. "Not necessarily." She answered before explaining. "While many Ladybug and Black Cat partnerships have been romantic, there have been many that remained platonic. Heck sometimes even family members have been chosen by the miraculous." Tikki told her. "Being meant for each other doesn't mean it has to be romantic, it just means that you bring the best out of each other." Though as far as Tikki was concerned some of the best love stories in the history of time were between many of hers and Plagg's former chosen.

'Chat Blanc and I bring the best out of each other?' Marinette thought to herself as she remembered some of the moments she had shared with the blond hero. When she took a moment to recall their relationship she couldn't help but smile. Chat Blanc was easily her closest friend, even making her relationship with Alya pale in some aspects. There really was something special between her and the white cat themed hero.

"So because Chat Blanc couldn't be chosen by Plagg, Nino and I were chosen?" Alya interjected.

Tikki nodded. "Hmm. Like I said, the holders of the miraculous need to have balance. Marinette, while she might get along with Nino would not have worked as well with him as you do. Which is why I went to you instead." She said, trying to assure the red haired girl that she was the right choice.

Alya made a thoughtful expression before nodding, finding Tikki's answer to be helpful. "I think I get it." She told her kwami, her tone becoming a bit lighter. 'Nino and I are meant for each other, how about that?' The glasses wearing girl thought with a mental chuckle.

"Also, now that everything's calmed down it's really starting to sink in." Marinette's voice pulled Alya out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" The Ladybug miraculous wielder cocked her brow.

"I mean the fact that you and Nino are superheroes." The dark haired girl elaborated on what she was talking about. "It's so amazing what you guys do, all three of you." She said before frowning as she remembered the night she and Alya had tended to a wounded Chat Blanc. 'That night must have been harder on her than I realized...'

"Yo." Nino's voice captured the two girl's attention. Turning away from each other the pair caught sight of the dark skinned boy climbing out of Marinette's room. "I thought I heard talking up here." He had been busy playing one of Marinette's video games while he waited for them to get back.

Marinette smiled before looking back down to her hand as she remembered the presence of the ring. With a nod to herself she slipped it off of her finger and presented it to her cap wearing friend. "I believe this belongs to you." She told him as he accepted the item.

Nino grinned as he slipped the ring back on. "Thanks dude." He said, happy to have the familiar feeling of the Black Cat miraculous on his finger. "At least I know who to call when I need a stand in." He said jokingly, causing the pigtailed girl to chuckle.

"Just so you know, we're okay with you knowing who we are." Alya's voice reclaimed her attention. Seeing that she had her best friend's eyes the red haired girl continued. "Even if it is dangerous for you to know who we are, we trust you." The red haired girl said without a shred of doubt.

Nino nodded his agreement. "Exactly. You're our friend, and we know you have our backs, so we'll have your back."

Marinette nodded in response, feeling happy that her two friends felt they could trust her with such a huge thing. A part of her wondered if Chat Blanc would offer her the same trust. She hoped he would, but she wouldn't dare push for such a thing. 'I want to know who Chat Blanc is as well.' But that was something that could wait for another day, whenever he was ready.

"I'm glad that you guys are here to keep Paris safe. Both of you and Chat Blanc do so much for the city, so thank you." Marinette told the duo honestly grateful for their efforts. The pair couldn't help but smile at their friend's sincere words.

Before anyone could say anything more Nino's phone started ringing. "Oh hold on," He told the two girls as he finished it out. Seeing the caller ID he grinned. "Adrien, sup?" He asked after accepting the call. The cap wearing boy was barely able to hold in his laughter at Marinette's surprised squeak. "I'm with Alya and Marinette right now." He explained before pausing to hear what Adrien was saying. "Yeah we missed the movie. I'm sorry man, I had something important that came up." He said, mostly for Marinette's benefit.

Nino grinned as he heard Adrien's suggestion for the four of them to go to the movies. "Yeah, I'll ask if they want to. What time's the next showing?" He looked at his watch. "Okay we'll be there by that time." He said before hanging up.

"So double date?" Alya asked as Marinette started screaming internally.

Nino grinned. "You know it." He told her before the trio quickly made for the cinema to meet with Adrien.

* * *

Like I said, this was a lot of fun. As you can all see, a lot happened in this chapter. And to be honest this became bigger than I thought it would. Either way I hope you all enjoyed it, I hope to have the next installment up soon.


	7. Tipping Point

Here I am with another update. I am so glad to see the positive feedback this story has gotten, even if many people aren't reading it I don't mind. As long as I can write what I want to write and if even one person gleams some enjoyment from my writing than I'm pleased.

Anyways on with the chapter.

* * *

The White Cat

Part Seven: Tipping Point

Chat Blanc grinned as his intended destination for the night came into view. He could already smell the scent of freshly baked goods. He saw her easily enough, she was sitting on one of her chairs, with her sketchbook in her lap. Though her head did glance up and turn left to right, as if searching for something. Him.

The blond hero's grin widened as he thought about the girl who had started to consume more of his thoughts since his first stint as Chat Blanc. It had been about three and a half months since he'd been akumatized, and in that time he had joined forces with the heroes of Paris. And he had also gotten very close to a girl whom he'd thought had disliked him, only to find that she in fact liked him. This girl liked him more than he could have ever realized. "Marinette." Chat Blanc muttered her name to himself.

He was able to admit it to himself, he really did care for her. Thankfully she was becoming more comfortable around him in their day to day lives. They had finally managed to get to the point where they could set next to each other and hold a conversation that wasn't about school or fashion.

Chat smiled as he recalled them eating lunch together, despite appearing to be a bit lost in thought she had hardly stuttered. He was actually considering asking her out soon, he wanted to become closer to her as Adrien. In fact he wanted her to know that the person she spent many nights talking to until the wee hours of the morning was the boy she adored.

Landing on her balcony he slowly made his approach. Marinette grinned as she stopped drawing in her book, it had been subtle but she had felt his presence. "Minou, you're slipping. I heard you that time." The dark haired teen teased, causing the feline hero to chuckle.

"Well I didn't want to startle my princess." The white clad hero told the dark haired girl while striding over to her.

Marinette chuckled in amusement before closing her sketchbook. "Whatever you say, minou." She told him not even batting an eye at him referring to her as his princess. Placing her book to the side she stood up, allowing the blanket she had draped over her shoulders to fall to her slipper covered feet. The pigtailed girl looked at him with a fond expression, after having been his friend for just under four months she couldn't even pretend that there wasn't something special between them.

'And not even just the implications of us having been the original candidates for the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous.' She thought to herself, remembering the words Alya's kwami had told her a few weeks ago. The information imparted to her by Tikki had repeated itself in her mind quite a bit since she had learned about how she had nearly been chosen as Ladybug.

It was funny that if things had played out a little differently they still would have met. This boy, who's face she did not know would still have been someone important to her.

When she thought about it, Chat Blanc really did bring out the best of her. He was able to give her the courage to do amazing things, like taking on a mind controlled Coccinelle without super powers. 'Or even donning black leather and cat ears.' She thought with an amused giggle as she remembered the picture of her transformed self that he had shown her.

And in a way she brought things out of Chat Blanc. From what he had told her he lived a very oppressed life. Her kitty was forced to act a certain way in his civilian life, he couldn't laugh or joke freely. With her however she allowed him to be whoever he wanted to be.

Marinette had told him to always be himself around her. "Don't filter yourself for me, I like you the way you are." The dark haired girl expressed to him during one of his late night visits when he had explained, albeit cryptically, more about his day to day life. The grin he had given her had made her ears go red and her heart beat faster.

Which was why after tonight things would be changing between them for better or for worse. Marinette had done a lot of thinking over this during the last couple of weeks. Even though this would definitely hurt, if not out right kill, her chances with Adrien this had to be done. Marinette was not a liar, and she knew she couldn't keep these feelings hidden from Chat.

Somehow in the months she had known him, spending many late nights seated together with steaming mugs of hot chocolate and leftover baked goods, she had developed feelings for him. At first she had felt very torn about this. She didn't want to have feelings for Chat Blanc, she just wanted them to keep the easy friendship they had started with.

However after talking to her mom about the subject of having feelings for two different people she had been assured. "There's nothing wrong with liking someone who isn't Adrien." Sabine had told her knowingly while hugging her close. "You can't help who your heart decides on. Just be true to yourself and what you want most." Her mother had told her, offering the teenage girl some comfort.

Suddenly a pair of clawed fingers were snapping near her ear. "-encess? You alright there?" Chat Blanc's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

Shaking her head Marinette offered an apologetic look. "Sorry, minou. I was kind of lost in thought." She sheepishly admitted, fiddling with the hem of white shirt.

Adrien frowned at the dark haired girl's expression. When he had been talking to her she had a faraway look on her face, as though she were thinking about something important. "What's on your mind?" He probed, hoping to know what had her distracted and if he could help. 'Must be important if she was that lost in thought.' The blond thought to himself as Marinette released an .

Deciding that she didn't want to drag this out Marinette offered a mirthful smile as she said something she knew would make him flustered. "You." She said, enjoying his reaction to her unsuspected flirting. That was another thing she had taken to doing, responding to his flirting and even dishing out some of her own. Her kitty really wasn't the best at taking her compliments, especially when he wasn't ready for it.

Her response had the desired effect as his face became the same shade as Alya's super suit. "Um..." He gulped while trying to come up with an acceptable rebuttal. Recovering slightly quicker than Marinette had anticipated, he was starting to get use to her flirts, he grinned. "Well, I guess it's only fur, since you often consume meow thoughts."

Marinette felt her cheeks go slightly pink before clearing her throat. "Actually I did need to talk to you about something." She told him, making sure he understood that she was done joking for the moment.

Hearing her tone made Adrien sober up slightly. "Is everything alright?" He asked, wondering what she wanted to talk about.

Marinette felt her palms grow sweaty as she prepared the type of words she always figured she'd say to Adrien, but circumstances change. "I..." She hesitated before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the item she had prepared to give to him. It was a good luck charm she usually wore when she felt like she could use a little extra luck. It usually adorned her wrist when up against an extra hard boss in a video game or when she was preforming an important task that required the utmost care.

Chat Blanc eyed the unfamiliar bracelet as she presented it to him. "What's this?" He asked as he accepted it and gave the wrist accessory a once over. It was a rather simple, but well put together trinket.

Marinette felt herself becoming embarrassed. "It's a good luck charm, I often wear it when I need a little luck. But I think you could get a little more use out of it than I could." He fought super villains on a day to day basis, he had even been shot by a mugger. Maybe it was a superstitious sort of thing, but she'd like to think him having a small part of her with him at all times could help.

Yellow eyes widened as he reconized the bracelet, she had worn it a couple times during their late night game sessions. He had never commented on it, but something had told him this bracelet held a fair amount of value to his friend.

Looking back at her, seeing her nervous expression told him that rejecting this gift would be like rejecting her. Deciding he did not want to insult her he smiled in genuine appreciation. "Thanks, Marinette. I promise I'll always treasure it." He told her before slipping it on his right wrist.

The dark haired girl looked thankful at him accepting his gift, but her nervousness returned as she remembered the next part. This was what Marinette had told herself she would do, she would not hide from her friend, she would tell him just how important he was to her. In her mind and heart he was just as important to her as Adrien, he deserved to know since she wasn't paralyzed by the fear of rejection from him that she was from Adrien.

Not that she didn't think it was impossible for Chat Blanc to reject her feelings. Just because he flirted with her so much, did not mean he wanted to be with her in that sense. However, something told her that even if he rejected her, the closeness they shared would not be hurt. She never questioned her relationship with Chat Blanc.

"Chat." Marinette said, breaking him away from his musings regarding the bracelet resting upon his wrist. "There's something else." She informed him before taking a deep breath. "I don't know how it happened, but this is something that I shouldn't keep from you. So I'm just going to come right out and say it." The pigtailed girl warned him before taking a deep breath. "I love you." Her face heated up as her words hung between her and the white clad hero.

Chat Blanc looked at her in shock, he did not expect those words to fall out of her mouth at this time. After a long stretch of silence, in which Marinette started to look slightly afraid, he managed to regain the use of his mouth. "L-love me? As in..." The blond hero couldn't even say the words as he was still trying to process this unexpected development.

Marinette licked her dry lips before nodding and continuing. "I love you as a friend, and as something more." She told him as her face burned, despite her embarrassment she couldn't hold back.

"Bu-but what about Adrien?" Was Chat Blanc's first question. 'Does she no longer like my other self?' He wondered slightly worried that revealing his identity to her could turn out badly. 'She has seemed a lot less nervous around Adrien me...' He pointed out to himself. 'Did she get over me for...me?' The blond hero did not know how to feel about that, possibly very ironic turnabout.

Marinette's lips made a thin line before she shook her head. "I...I still like Adrien, he's very important to me." She wouldn't lie to him, the kind blond model could still make her heart race just as fast as the blond before her could. "But you're just as important to me. I wanted you to know that." The dark haired girl's words were honest and full of meaning.

Chat Blanc's expression remained surprised as he registered her words. Realizing that he was doing a pretty poor job of responding to his friend he cleared his throat. "Marinette, I...I can't say I don't feel the same way." He told her, accepting and returning her feelings. "You are one of the most important people in my life, I'm always happiest around you." On the inside he was grinning. Marinette liked both sides of him equally, and she wanted to be with him.

Maybe tonight really would be the night he would reveal his identity to her. She would know that the two people she claimed to love were one in the same. His blue haired friend might freak out at learning that her crush had been visiting her late at night for the past four months, but hopefully she'd move past it quick enough.

Marinette felt her heart swell at his words, smiling she walked closer to him and hugged him. "Chaton." She murmured softly as he returned the embrace.

Suddenly a loud boom sounded out, shattering the current moment. The two snapped their attention to Papillon's latest akuma terrorizing the night life. "That's a rarity." Chat muttered bitterly under his breath, musing over the fact that it had to be tonight when Papillon would unleash one of his late evening akumas.

Turning to the dark haired girl he grinned his usual cheeky grin. "Sorry to leave you in your tower Princess, but this knight has to keep the streets clean for people like you." He said, barely hiding his disappointment at them being interrupted. 'Tomorrow, I'll tell her who I am.' Adrien decided to himself before turning to go.

"W-wait!" Marinette's voice caught his attention, turning to see what she had to say his eyes widened in surprise as a pair of lips crashed against his. For a first kiss it was rather sloppy, awkward, and not at all like the trashy romance stories one might read, but to Adrien and Marinette it was perfect. Adrien closed his eyes as he savored the feeling of her pressed against him.

Once they broke away for air Adrien rested his forehead against Marinette's. "Was that for more good luck?" He asked, slightly out of breath.

Marinette, face the color of an apple, squeaked lightly before speaking. "I-I just wa-wanted to do that tonight before you left." The akuma had kind of forced her hand. If it had been up to her she would have tried to initiate their first kiss as he was leaving, maybe it would have been a little slower, but a kiss was a kiss.

Adrien grinned as he could still feel the impression of her lips against his. Deciding he wanted another taste he left a quick peck on her lips. "Well I'm pawlesed you did, now I'll have some extra luck." He told her before reluctantly slipping away from her.

"Stay safe!" The dark haired girl called out as she watched him hop off her roof. She remained rooted in spot until he was out of sight before mechanically going downstairs. Grabbing one of her pillows she flopped down on her bed and screamed into it. 'I actually did that.' A part of her celebrated her boldness yet was also extremely embarrassed.

Once she had calmed down, she went on her computer to check the news on the developing akuma event. To Marinette's immense relief Coccinelle and Black Cat were also on the scene with Chat Blanc, so he wasn't being forced to fight alone. The pigtailed girl didn't blink or turn her eyes away from the screen until it was announced that the akuma had been defeated.

With a relieved sigh she checked the time and was disappointed to see how late it was. Chances were that Chat Blanc would not be returning for the night. Shutting off her computer she turned off the lights and went to bed, ready to face the next day.

* * *

He had meant to tell her sometime that day, hopefully a chance where he could get her alone and calmly tell her who he was. Sadly the world had other plans, Adrien was running late that morning. He had woken up past his usual time, as the late night akuma had taken longer than he would have liked. So the moment his car arrived in front of the school he booked it, grabbing his bag and closing the door behind him before running up the stairs.

He did not expect to literally run into Marinette the moment he entered the school. The two fell from the impact of bumping into each other. The dark haired girl had clamed up upon seeing who it was she had knocked down, and while she was apologizing Adrien was trying to tell her that it wasn't her fault. "I wasn't watching where I was going." He told her while moving to pick up his bag.

Green and blue eyes widened as they saw the familiar item on the ground, next to his bag. "Wh-where?" Marinette's face grew pale as she looked at him, really looked at him. It couldn't be, but now that she had seen such damning evidence it was hard to not see it.

Realizing that he best start explaining his piece Adrien was denied the opportunity as a pale faced Marinette rose to her feet and ran out of the school. "Ma-Marinette!" The blond cried out as he hastily gathered his things and chased after her.

Perhaps it was a mixture of his natural athleticism and having a miraculous, but he was able to catch up to her very quickly. Marinette had ran into an alleyway, in an attempt to break line of sight only to be stopped short as she realized it was a dead end. Turning around she saw him entering the alleyway, shaking her head she sank to her knees, she was not ready for this turn of events.

"This entire time." She said slowly, her voice cracking. "It was you this entire time." Adrien paused at her watery voice and glistening blue eyes. "I-You've known how I felt about you this whole time. You've even laughed whenever I would talk to you about my progress with you..." The blue haired girl turned away and bit her lip. "We-were you just laughing at me? Wh-why?"

Adrien walked up to her. "Marinette, I swear. I know you're feeling hurt, but I wanted to tell you. I was going to last night but the-." He stopped as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. 'No!' He shouted to himself in thought as he abruptly grabbed the girl and pushed her behind him.

Marinette squeaked in alarm before seeing what had made Adrien so frightened. Her own blue eyes widened in terror as she realized what was coming towards her. 'I was so...' She realized that she had just become a target of Papillon. 'You can't control how you feel.' Despite knowing that she might have overreacted to finding out who Chat Blanc was, she couldn't help but still feel how she did.

Even now she still wondered what everything between her and Chat Blanc meant. Did he honestly care for her the way she did for both sides of him? Looking into his terrified eyes, terrified for her, she felt that she had the answer to that question. The dark haired girl smiled bitterly as she recalled their first night together on her balcony, when he had come to her for no particular reason.

"If that ever happened I'm not sure I'd be able to fight you, My Princess."

"If it did...I would hope that my white knight would do whatever it took to save me."

There was nowhere for her to run, even if she tried ducking past it the akuma would get her. "Adr-Chat." She said, her voice regaining some of it's usual clarity. "Remember what you promised me." She told him before looking down in resignation.

Adrien looked at her in surprise. "Mari..."

She offered him a broken smile, "You're supposed to be my white knight right?" She asked as the akuma landed on her purse.

Adrien's green eyes widened as he watched the outline of a butterfly appear on her face. "Tigga!" He called to his white kwami who zipped out of his pocket. "Fangs Bared!" He yelled as Marinette was enveloped in darkness. Suddenly numerous razor sharp wires appeared all around him. Chat Blanc, the moment his transformation ended, made use of his enhanced speed to weave and duck around the many wires.

Taking in the twisted version of the girl he knew he felt his heart drop at seeing her. It was easy enough to see who the akuma once was, instead of her usual white shirt, brown jacket, and pink capris, she now wore a misty black dress with a black mask covering her face. On her hands were black gloves with wires coming out of the fingertips.

This warped version of her still had the purse she usually wore, though now it was slightly larger and had numerous wires spilling out of it, some of them were connected to the wires coming out of the ends of her fingers. Adrien gritted his teeth as the girl who he adored willed them to chase after him.

"Marinette!" He cried out to her as she attacked him at a distance.

The dark haired girl didn't care to respond to his words, instead she pursued him. With a silent growl she reared her arm back and aimed a right hook for his cheek which was blocked.

Adrien gasped as he felt one of her wires make a shallow cut on his arm. Scowling he jumped back and watched Marinette slowly advance on him. 'Damn it this is bad!' He thought to himself as he tried to back off, only to stop as he felt more wires digging into his back.

In place of her usual kind smile was a cruel smirk. "I am not Marinette, I am Couturiere." She finally told him, her voice having an airy quality to it before making a swipe at him.

Chat Blanc gritted his teeth as he avoided her attack, behind him he noticed the sharp wires cutting into the wall, leaving four indentions. "I don't want to fight you, Marinette!" The blond cried out as he continued narrowly avoiding her attacks.

"Too bad, minou. Because I want to fight you!" Suddenly she was above him with ten, barely visible wires swing around her. Chat gritted his teeth as he dodged her attack and did his best to keep his distance as she continued her assault. "During our entire friendship, you know what I felt for Adrien. And all this time you were him laughing at me!" She swung at each syllable, as Adrien raised his buckler to block the attacks.

Chat Blanc bit the inside of his cheek as one of her wires wrapped tightly around his leg, causing it to bleed. With a strangled cry he dropped to one knee and lowered his head. 'Not good...' He thought to himself before flinching as he felt Couturiere place a hand on his shoulder. The hand went to his cheek and remained there in an unexpected show of tenderness.

Looking up he saw that she was gazing down at him, with a loving expression. Before Chat could speak the akumatized Marinette had leaned down and kissed him. He made a noise of surprise at the kiss but moved to savor it before feeling a fist digging into his gut.

"Gah!" He cried out as he was slammed into the wall. Placing a hand on his stomach he groaned before trying to get back up. 'Damn it...'

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Minou." Couturiere said as she walked over to him and knelt down, stopping him from rising back to his feet. "What are you going to do now?"

Adrien looked up to see Couturiere's expression. Her face was a picture perfect of calm, but on the inside he could fell her silent fury. Even if Marinette logically knew that he would never bring pain to her, her heart didn't. She felt hurt by his deceitfulness. 'And rightfully so.' He told himself before opening his mouth. "I'm sorry, Marinette." She blinked at him in surprise before he continued. "I'm sorry I hurt you, it wasn't my intention. I wanted to tell you, I was going to."

Marinette's surprised expression changed into amusement. "Well, too late for that now, minou. You've hurt me, so I'm going to hurt you." She promised with a cruel smile that did not belong on his pigtailed friend's face.

As she was rearing back to cut him to ribbons with her wires she was interrupted by the sound of a zipping yoyo. Scowling Couturiere turned to see Coccinelle's yoyo coming towards her, with a flick of her wrist her wires formed up and held it back. However she was not able to stop the extending baton coming from her other side.

Chat, watching in surprise, quickly regained his wits as he saw his chance. Gritting his teeth he jumped at Marinette and pushed her to the ground, slightly harder than he intended. While she was dazed he swiped at the purse on her side with his sharp claws and watched as the black butterfly fluttered out. "Now Alya!" He shouted to Coccinelle who nodded before sending her yoyo back out to grab the darkened butterfly.

"Goodbye little butterfly." Alya said before throwing her yoyo up into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She called out before a swarm of magical ladybugs went about fixing the damage Couturiere had caused.

* * *

Marinette stared up in a daze at Chat Blanc's worried eyes. "Ch-Chat?" She called out weakly before slowly remembering what had happened. Her face grew impressively red as she gave into her usual response of trying to get away but found herself unable to due to the white clad hero. "Ad-Chat!" She tried to call out but was cut off as the white clad hero pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Thank god," Adrien said, his voice filled with emotion, as he held her close. "I'm so glad you're alright."

Marinette hesitated for a moment before weakly returning the hug with one arm. "What happened?" She asked, still in a slight daze.

Loosing his hold on her he met her blue confused gaze. "After you found out who I was you were akumatized." He explained before giving her a reassuring look. "But it's okay now, we purified it."

Marinette felt her lips turn into a frown as the fog started to fade from her mind. She couldn't remember her time as one of Papillon's villains, but she did recall the moments leading up to it. Breaking their gaze she sighed. "Adrien. It's really you." She muttered, still trying to process that. Now that she knew and was looking closely she was mentally smacking herself for not being able to see him.

The blond hero frowned, suddenly feeling self conscious. "Are you disappointed it's me?" His cat ears drooped.

That caught her attention, looking back at the blond she noticed his crestfallen expression. "Of course not." Marinette told him, raising her voice a little. "I could never be disappointed in Chat or Adrien." The dark haired girl said looking into his glowing yellow eyes. "it's just that I'm still trying to piece together that Adrien Agreste is a superhero and loves stupid puns." She said her lips lifting up into a tiny smile

Adrien seemed surprised for a moment, before he grinned in retaliation. "Hey, I'll have you know puns are the ultimate for of comedy." He told her with mock offense before enjoying the giggle that escaped her lips.

"Whatever you say, minou."

The blond hero smiled down at the girl before him. Closing his eyes he started leaning forward, catching her off guard for a moment. Marinette's eyes widened before returning to their normal size as she too closed her eyes and leaned up to meet him halfway.

"Uh, babe are you sure you should be recording this?" Nino's voice was heard in the background.

The couple broke away from each other to see Coccinelle holding her compact up, watching them with a huge grin. "Damn it, you ruined the moment!" The red haired heroine told her boyfriend before smacking his shoulder. Seeing Adrien and Marinette's surprised eyes still on her she waved her hand. "Oh don't mind me you two, just documenting this for your future kids." She said, gaining amusement at how red their faces became.

"Al-Alya!" Marinette cried out as the spotted heroine started laughing.

Once everything was settled the three heroes of Paris dropped their transformations and made for the school. They were already over an hour late, but they didn't want to completely skip the day. When Marinette and Adrien entered the room hand in hand, Chloe's screech of indignation could be heard from three blocks over.

* * *

Bet this was a surprise to you all? I know this chapter was a bit sudden, but there's a reason for this. This is the last official chapter for this story, don't worry there will be an epilogue and even a follow up story (It may only be a one-shot or I might decide to make it into a multi chapter story, haven't decided yet.)

Anyways the reason for this slightly abrupt end is, one I didn't expect this story to be very long. The fact that its spanned this many chapters at this point was a surprise to me, but as I wrote more and more I got ideas. And two, I don't want to drag this out any further than I have to. Because when I drag a story out it just never ends, and I wanted to be able to say that I completed this.

Also, figured I'd address something. A couple people predicted that Marinette might get the peacock miraculous, or suggested that I should have that happen. I'll let you all in on a little secret. That's what I had planned even before the first chapter of this was posted. So kudos on people predicting my plans, guess my foreshadowing was too obvious. haha Anyways, I'll see you all in the epilogue.


	8. Epilogue

I was going to post this last night before going to bed, but my internet decided to be annoying and not work. So here it is, the epilogue. Thank you all for coming on this adventure with me. I am very happy that I was able to finish a story relatively quickly for once, so I hope you have all enjoyed this and I'll see you all on the other side. This will most definitely not be my last bit of Miraculous Ladybug content.

Speaking of which, for those of you who are interested I have written a couple one-shots for this fandom. If you haven't already seen them, maybe check them out. Give me some feedback, I really enjoy hearing what people have to say about my writing. What they like, what they think I can improve on. I'll take it with a smile.

Again, thanks for reading. Enjoy.

* * *

The White Cat

Part Eight: Epilogue

Marinette Dupain-Cheng never would have figured that her first boyfriend would be a model by day and superhero by night. But it's crazy how things work out. After her brief akumatization, which she thankfully does not remember, she and Adrien began dating.

All of her friends had offered her many congratulations for finally getting the courage to confess to him, which she actually did do. 'Even if he was wearing cat ears at the time.' The pigtailed girl thought with an inward giggle.

Of course there was a healthy amount of teasing from Alya and Nino, okay mostly Alya. The spotted heroine made sure to bring up the fact that Adrien had been visiting her specifically late at night for months. "He even saw the wall and didn't freak out." The red haired heroine had cackled, causing Marinette's face to resemble the color of Coccinelle's suit.

Her parents had also been very supportive and happy with her new relationship. Whenever Adrien came to the bakery Sabine had offered him a number of croissants and other baked goods, on the house. Much to hers and Adrien's embarrassment when he tried to refuse and pay for them her father had stepped forward. "Consider it from family, since you are our future son-in-law." The large man had given the blond a wink.

The only person who didn't seem to be happy with the new couple's relationship was Chloe Bourgeois. The first week of her fledgling relationship with the blond had been met with much antagonizing from the spoiled girl. Thankfully Adrien, after learning of his childhood friend's reaction, had put his foot down and offered his ultimatum. "Either you accept that I'm dating Marinette and be civil to her, or we can go our separate ways and never talk again."

After that the materialisticblonde had been much more dismissive of her. Chloe was by no means nice to her, but she no longer went as out of her way to annoy Marinette. Now she was just her usual bratty self.

Marinette was jerked out of her thoughts by the car she was in pulling to a stop. Lips pressing into a thin line she moved to open the door, only to stop as the driver had already done so for her. Offering him a sheepish smile she got out of the car and approached the large house before her.

She had never been in Agreste Manor, so she was impressed by being up close to it. Clearing the lump in her throat she allowed the woman who had just exited the other side of the car, Nathalie, lead her. The two females made their way into the large home. As they walked into the foyer Marinette noticed a large painting of Gabriel Agreste and his family.

Marinette had never met Adrien's mom, but from seeing her image captured on the large painting she thought the older woman was breath taking. 'It's easy to see where Adrien gets his good looks from.'

Nathalie, having caught the blue haired girl becoming distracted, cleared her throat. "This way," She said once Marinette's attention was back on her. They went down a couple halls until they came upon what Marinette assumed was Gabriel Agreste's home office. "Monsieur Agreste will see you now." The glasses wearing woman informed her before opening the door and ushering her in.

The dark haired girl clutched her bag to her chest as she entered, suddenly feeling very small. She had only met Adrien's father once during his contest, and she hadn't even seen him in person. 'Now I'm dating his son, and he wants to see some of my designs.' She gulped upon seeing him seated at his desk, looking expectantly at her.

"Take a seat, mile Dupain-Cheng." The silver haired man ordered as the door closed behind her.

Marinette offered a thankful nod before seating herself across from him. When no more words came out of his mouth, and he instead lifted his hand up as if waiting for her to hand him something Marinette quickly reached into her bag and pulled out one of her sketchbooks.

As he leafed through it no words were spoken. The only sound she could hear was the turning of pages, and the beating of her heart. Once Gabriel had quickly looked through her sketchbook he closed it and set it down. "I did not call you here just to look at your artwork." He eventually said before folding his hands over his desk.

Marinette gulped but kept quiet, waiting for him to explain. It was probably only a thirty second wait, but it felt like an eternity before he spoke again.

"Since you are now dating my son, I can safely assume you know about his late night runs." He said, for lack of a better word. At seeing her bluebell eyes widen he was forced to conceal a smile. "Do not act surprised, very little gets by me. And I know my son wouldn't keep things hidden from someone important to him."

What followed was more silence as Marinette tried to process the fact that not only was Adrien's father bringing up her relationship with him, but that he knew about Chat Blanc. Frowning she wondered what he hoped to do with this meeting. Was he going to tell her he disapproved of her and Adrien?

She was in for a shock however when he reached into his pocket and produced a small blue pin in the shape of a peacock fan. "My son can be rather headstrong at times, a trait he inherited from his mother." The man made a pained expression for the briefest of moments before proceeding. "I know that Coccinelle and Black Cat are there to watch him, but I feel that another person to keep him safe would offer me solace." He told her before sliding over the peacock miraculous to her.

Marinette gaped at the peacock pin before looking back up at Gabriel's expression. She couldn't see it in his face, but his eyes told her a story. A story of a man who felt the loss of his wife, and the inability to be there for his son. This was a man pleading for her to protect someone they both loved.

Pursing her lips Marinette hesitantly reached for the pin and grabbed it. When a tiny blue creature, a kwami, appeared Gabriel's expression became thankful.

A new miraculous holder was born.

* * *

And that's all for Adrien's story. We will continue this story mainly from Marinette's perspective in Beautiful Blue. You've all been wonderful, see you in the sequel whenever I get around to writing it.


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